Ice's Daughters
by Izzi 714
Summary: Valka refused to let go of her only child on that fateful night when she was taken from her home. So, she watches her daughter grow up around dragons. Kind of AU. Genderbend. Sorry not sorry.
1. Ice's Daughters

**Hello potential readers. Sorry, but I'm kinda new at posting -not writing, no no. I've been doing that for quiet a while now- so I hope you'll all be kind. And now, a few things to get out of the way: **

**1. Dragon speak shall be in italics**

**2. There have been several other amazing fan fictions similar to this. I will admit that I was inspired to write this from The Dragon's King which I seriously recommend reading, it is awesome. And please don't kill me because of it**

**3. This is my first fanfiction posting so please be nice if you review**

**4. I should be updating every 2-3 days**

**And yeah. Hope you enjoy and please review.**

"Stoick!" she screams, twisting around to face him. Her arms stretch to the limits trying to hand him the small tan bundle which only moments ago had been held close to her chest.

And the world freezes for a moment.

Fires burn around their home of Berk as dragons raid the heap of wet rock that is only decorated by forest and the burning village. Vikings scream fierce war calls and heft their axes over their shoulders, preparing to take down any number of dragons that land in front of them.

Stoick's hands have almost reached the small tan bundle, the small and fragile child wrapped within them is still too sick to move.

For a second, he can feel his fingers brush the rough blanket and he pushes himself forwards, running towards his beautiful wife who is being carried off in the claws of a vicious beast.

His heart lifts for a brief moment, until the dragon beats it's powerful wings once again and carries his wife and only child out of his reach. And he is forced to stop.

"Valka!" he screams after them, a scream of grief only a father can scream.

It calls the attention of a large Nightmare as it sets itself aflame and crawls towards him through the burning house, yellow eyes narrowed and sharp white teeth barred.

Without hesitation he punches the creature's maw, eyes ablaze with fury and grief. His axe had been dropped when he saw the strange dragon enter his own house, snatching his child and wife and whisking them away. But he doesn't need it. Rage boils within him and fuels his desire to fight.

So on the dark night, as he fights a vicious beast with his bare hands as his entire world crumbles around him, he swears revenge.

For Valka.

For Hicca.

—

_"__Please stop! Your child is sick, the King may help. And your home is not a good place to raise hatchlings." _Cloudjumper told the woman clutched in her claws.

The woman hadn't stopped shaking since they had left the nest of the dragon killers. She was holding her child, who was very small, no bigger than one of her claws.

She knew immediately that the woman was different from her tribe members. The soul of a dragon rested inside of her, along with her daughter. While that was only a metaphor, she knew that the two of them were different, the good kind, yet the daughter was sick. The entire time they had flown as the bitter wind whipped around them, she had not made a sound. And while she had not been around humans much, she knew they were rowdy and loud.

_"__Just wait a little longer please. We will be at the King's nest in a short while!" _although that was a lie. They had many more hours to go, fating them to flying well into the night and perhaps early morning, when the sun emerged from the side of the Earth and the world was reset.

Cloudjumper flew relentlessly and late in the night when the moon was still high in the sky, the woman soon stopped shaking, her muscles uncoiling, yet the small bundle was still clutched to her chest.

A small pang, almost like a physical blow, swept through the large and beautiful dragon. She was reminded of her mate, killed by a rival queen, forcing her to overcome her fear and leave. And then she found the King who welcomed her with open wings. And she was confident that accepting these two into their nest was a good thing. Something told her that it would heal more than it would hurt, though it might hurt.

—

When Valka woke, she felt as if she was falling. Trying to stand up, she wiggled around in the bindings. Hearing a combination of growls and whistles above her, everything came rushing back.

Quickly, she pulled Hicca closer to her chest, opening the folds of the blanket a bit to see her small daughter. She was extremely fragile and tiny for a viking with a mop of messy auburn hair atop her head. Barely a year old, Hicca was very small, yet her daughter was a fighter. And her fight was going badly.

Looking up, Valka was finally able to see her captor. The dragon was a new species, very large and slanted toffee eyes and several sets of horns that fanned outwards. Four wings beat steadily as the moon reflected off of its scales.

"Dragon, where are you taking me?" she asked. Her voice was slightly hoarse from her sobbing as she had clutched Hicca close.

The only response she got was several whistles and gurgles which equated to nothing in her mind. Deciding it would do no good, she settled into the almost hammock of claws. For hours.

Her nerves had already been chewed raw from her daughter's illness, but they were only being frayed more as what ever destination was getting closer.

Finally, she was barely able to make out something through the moonlight that rested on the edge of the horizon line. The dragon seemed to buzz with excitement and the wind began to whisk by her faster, brushing her braid back.

As they approached the mass, she was stunned by the sheer size of it. Part of it was made from ice, yet another part of it was beautiful plant life and some sections were even a beautiful light blue crystal that glinted in the silver moonlight. Plant life teemed wherever it could and as they got closer she was able to see that ice was also incorporated into the large nest. A forest to the right of the fortress fanned out, occasional glints of water peeking their way out from the dark green sea.

A warm gust of wind alerted her that another dragon had sidled up with her captor. It had a deep purple tint to it's scales, it's under jaw was much larger than the upper one as yellow eyes noted her.

They began chattering back and forth, clicks and whistles that she'd never really noticed before. The only time she'd ever seen dragons was when they were roaring in battle or being slaughtered by the residents of Berk.

Though, she had to admit, she'd always wondered what it was like to be a dragon. In fact, she'd always wanted to see a dragon up close. Well, when it wasn't trying to rip out her throat.

Soon she felt the air lifting around her and looked around. They were almost at the large mass, so she was able to make out beautiful details of the place.

Being a viking she was never one for beauty or such. She wore a simple green under cloak that was covered by several furs hanging off of her belt and metal armor that had decorations swirling up them. Yet she could most definitely appreciate the beauty of the materials which seemed to weave themselves out of the sea to make the paradise.

Suddenly, the dragon dipped and plunged into a large hole which moonlight streamed through.

And the sight that greeted Valka took her breath away.

The inside was just as mixed as the outside. Plants blossomed everywhere, vines hanging from cliffs and rocks that almost served as pillars. Several streams ran through the ash gray rocks that helped build the interior of the space. Ice occasionally burst through the place, supporting a wall over here or completing another level of rock. And while she thought the entire space, which was probably the size of the entire island of Berk, was hard to process, the large dragon was even harder.

It was sitting in a large pool of sea water that filtered in from the ocean around them. It was a beautiful icy white with piercing blue eyes that watched their descent through the moonlight filled air towards a rock in front of it. Two huge tusks extended from it's maw as well as many spikes that protruded from it's neck and body.

The solid earth felt amazing under her as she ungracefully tumbled out of the dragon's claws.

Most of the cavern was empty, but an occasional grunt or snore could be heard echoing about. Both dragons were now standing behind her, crouched low in almost a bow at the huge creature before her.

_Hello. _A voice echoed throughout her head.

"What? What's going on?" Valka asked, standing up as she clutched Hicca closer. There were several clicks and whistles behind her so she turned to see the dragon that had brought her here was talking to the beast.

_Hm. It seems as if Cloudjumper thought that you were in need of help. _The voice echoed in her mind.

"What?! I don't need any help!" she protested, viking pride kicking in.

_No, but your hatchling does. Set her before me. _The dragon looked at her with a challenge in his eyes.

"Will you help her?" she asked. While a wave of comfort accompanied the majestic dragon before her, this was her only child.

_If you will allow me to, then yes. It seems that Cloudjumper thinks it's a good idea to allow you into our nest. But first, you should let me see your hatchling. She's fading. _

The last two words made Valka panic but she tenaciously stepped forwards and set her daughter in front of the white dragon. It leaned forwards, looking at the hatchling before it.

A large white paw rose up out of the water and reached out slowly towards the child. The razor sharp claws barely brushed Hicca's cheek, but Valka saw crimson appear.

"What are you doing!?" she screamed and begun to run forwards but was stopped when a long tail wrapped around her, restraining her.

_Do not fret human. The only way I may save your hatchling and allow you to be accepted into our nest is for you to have dragon blood running through your veins. You too will also have to go through this. _

And without warning, the enormous dragon leans forwards and blows ice onto Hicca. It frosts the front of her brown hair, turning it white and icy.

_Now, cut your arm. _

The voice says and her gaze flicks up to the beast.

"Will she be okay?" Valka's voice wavers as she steps over the tail and stands next to where her child is now sleeping soundly.

_Yes, your hatchling shall be fine. Now, do as I instruct. _

Somewhat in a daze, she slipped a small iron knife out of the hilt at her belt. Raising her arm, she drew a line across a small amount of her forearm that was exposed.

Dipping his head, the king blew an icy mist onto her. It was cold, yet comforting, almost like a gentle breeze. Something seemed to weave it's way into her veins, making her more aware of everything around her and she feels a slight pain behind her eyes before it clears almost instantly.

Brushing the frost off of her hair and face, she quickly snatches up Hicca, brushing the frost off her messy brown hair.

_"__Welcome to the nest."_ a voice behind her says. Turning she sees the two dragons, and something inside of her clicks.

She'd never felt home at Berk. She'd always felt as if something was missing, even when she married Stoick who her heart ached for. Yet, she knew they couldn't return to Berk. They wouldn't understand and possibly never would. The only reason she'd ever been able to kill a dragon was an accident, a misplaced and fatal blow which earned her respect. Yet for years she felt guilty after her first and only kill. But now, among the dragons, Hicca in her arms, she felt more at home then she ever had on Berk. And Hicca would've died if Cloudjumper had never taken them. So maybe it wouldn't be all bad.

_"__Thank you."_ she smiles. _"I am Valka, and this is Hicca."_ she says and smiles affectionately at the only family she has left.

Just then, Hicca woke and opened her beautiful green eyes. She knew they were Stoick's eyes, yet kinder and gentler. But when the eyes flicked over to her, she gasped. Instead of seeing her daughter's eyes as human, the pupils were dilated, stretched and more dragon like.

Hicca giggled, craning her head to look around at their new home. Tears sprang in Valka's eyes.

For weeks she had stressed if her daughter would ever open her eyes again, if she'd ever hear the small giggle she had become so fond over. And now she did. It did not matter if they were different.

Turning around, she faced the King again. _"Thank you, thank you so much." _she easily says to him. If she takes a step back, she hears the strange clicking sounds that erupt from her mouth and is slightly taken aback at how easily the language comes to her.

_"__You are most welcome, Valka of Berk."_ he says back, this time not in her mind but out loud. _"You and your daughter, Hicca, shall be accepted here. For now you may create any living comforts you need, although I suggest that Cloudjumper help you adjust."_ The King nods behind her.

_"__Thank you King."_ she says and bows slightly. Vikings are filled with pride, so bowing to anyone is the highest sign of respect. Though, Hicca shall never know this. No, she is going to raise her daughter the way she'd always dreamed of living. With Dragons.

_"__And it is just Valka."_

**Sooo...?**


	2. A Yell of Joy

**Okay, I am officially flipping out now. Thank you all so much for reviewing and I hope this answers some of your questions! (I'm still freaking out like literally shaking with excitement... or maybe it's just because it's extremely cold up here) But yes, and thank you all so much for the comments! The POV will change a lot so sorry but I try to label when the POV changes. Also here is the link to the Dragon's King which I mentioned earlier in the AU: **

s/10442965/1/The-Dragon-s-King

— 6 Months Later —

_"__Hicca? Where'd you go?" _Valka called through their home. Ever since the King had given them his blood, they both could feel the effects. Hicca had been able to walk at just barely a year old and Valka had never seen a faster and more agile child. And herself, well, even as she walked around their three roomed home, searching for Hicca who had taken to running off, she felt as if a small coil was within her. It was never there before, but it possessed a certain power and speed which she was adjusting to. She was quieter, more agile and her vision was clearer.

_"__Mama! O'er heur!"_ she heard her daughter's voice outside. Sighing, she walked out of the entrance to see her daughter seated on the ground.

_"__What are you doing?"_ she asked and leaned next to her child. The two were unnaturally close already, which Valka was very happy for but couldn't help imagine what it would've been like if they were still with Stoick but she dismissed it fast. She knew that the gap in her heart that her husband still claimed would never be filled unless she returned to her home, and she was too happy to do that.

_"__Drauin'!"_ Hicca exclaimed and pointed to where several black charcoal marks lay.

_"__It looks amazing! Why don't we bring Cloudjumper over."_ she smirks as she hears the dragon perk at her name. Cloudjumper has become more of a friend than she ever has. All of the dragons have. Even the King has become a parental figure to the young girl.

_"__Cau-umper!"_ Hicca jumps up and runs over to the dragon who is perched atop their home.

_"__Yes little one?" _the dragon asked and gracefully jumped down to land in front of the toddler who didn't even flinch at the towering dragon.

_"'__ome!"_ Hicca beckoned him and hurried back over to where Valka was laughing.

_"__What's so funny?" _Cloudjumper asked as she walked over, peering at the drawing as Hicca smiled and pointed at it.

_"__The ten foot dragon lands in front of my daughter and she doesn't even flinch? Glad to see the day."_ Valka smirks and earns a small hit from Cloudjumper. The two of them had found an almost sister like bond, though much more pleasant than her bond she'd had with Bukara.

The King's blood had changed many things within her and Hicca. Along with improving their overall speed and agility, she found that she had generally clearer senses, though not as clear as a dragon's, and she also had fangs. They'd come in a week after the two had arrived and she noticed that as Hicca was teething, she was also getting two sharper canines than usual. Of course, Valka's were retractable and Hicca's were not yet, it was still a strange experience.

And another reason you cannot return to Berk. A small voice told her in her mind but she was quickly forced to push the thought out of her mind as she heard yelling farther down in the cavern.

_"__Hicca, get inside please." _Valka told her daughter who instantly obeyed and hurried into the home, pupils dilated to slits.

_"__Let's go." _Cloudjumper didn't even wait for a response before bounding off. Valka had instantly jumped onto the dragon's back, holding onto a large horn in the center of Cloudjumper's back as to not fall off. After a while, she'd taken to riding on different dragon's backs, as they didn't mind. One of their family did not have wings, so they felt obliged to provide them with some.

They zipped through the cavern as other dragons perked up at the yelling. The space was always filled with colors, even at night when everyone retreated into their own caves.

Quickly, they were at the other side of the nest where several dragons were gathering. Suddenly, a large blue blast of fire whizzed over by their left and hit a ledge behind them, the ice peak falling and crumbling, luckily avoiding crushing any dragons.

Soon they were on the ground and Valka quickly jumped off, making her way to the front of the ring of dragons.

Huddled against the wall was a small black dragon. It's green eyes were narrowed, it's wings pushed up and out in an attempt to look intimidating as it bared it's teeth.

_"__Get away! Back away! Let me be!" _the small dragon hissed at them. _"HUMAN!" _the small dragon screeched, catching sight of her. "_GET AWAY FROM ME MOTHER KILLER!" _it screamed and shot a blast of fire towards her.

With speed she was still getting used to, she stepped to the side as Cloudjumper raised a wing and blocked the fire ball which died against then fire resistant wing.

_"__Calm down please." _she told the small dragon, lowering her arms.

_"__How do you know our language Mother Killer?" _the dragon snarled at her. It looked like no other dragon she'd ever seen before, which she found was a common reoccurrence now. It was completely black with bright green eyes. It's white teeth were sharp for a newborn and his wings seemed to have developed way faster then any of the other hatchlings.

_"__Please little Nightfury," _Cloudjumper stepped forwards, _"she means no harm. She is apart of our nest." _

_"__No! They killed my mother!" _the Nightfury protested before large tears began to fall from it's eyes.

_"__It is okay little one. It is okay." _a Sweet Death stepped forwards from the crowd, it's four heads not bickering like usual. Valka recognized him as LARS, one letter for each head, and he moved in to wrap a large wing around the Nightfury.

_"__Okay." _the small dragon nodded, sighing against the much larger dragon. A small figure then burst from the crowd, only stopping in front of the dragon who was wiping away his tears.

"Hicca!" Valka called and darted forwards after her.

_"__He'o." _Hicca smiled at the dragon. This time, the dragon didn't edge away, but instead shook itself out of LARS's grip and stepped forwards. _"Cu-me 'ere." _Hicca opened her arms. And for a beat, no one did anything.

Then, the dragon leaped forwards. Valka was about to scream, or get in the way, or do something, but it was not needed.

He simply jumped into the toddler's arms, knocking her over as she smiled and laughed, clinging to his neck.

_"__Looks like someone found a new friend." _Valka chuckled as did the rest of the assembled dragons.

_"__So little one," _a blue Natter named DeathSpike stepped forwards. _"what are you doing here?" _

_"__I don't know." _the Nightfury replied as it stepped aside so Hicca could stand. _"But can I stay here?" _he looked upon DeathSpike with large eyes. _"I like this two-legged, so can I stay? I promise to be good."_

_"__Oh yes! Please can he stay?" _Hicca joined in, jumping up and down.

_"__Let's go ask the King." _Cloudjumper offered. The rest of the dragons had already dispersed, leaving only the four of them.

_"__The King?" _the NightFury asked as Valka and Hicca moved to ride on Cloudjumper.

_"__Yes, the King. He is the King of all Dragons, and the best too." _Hicca informed him as she tried to make her way up Cloudjumper's leg but was slipping. Valka stepped forwards to help her but the Nightfury pushed her up with it's snout as they talked on.

_"__Looks like Hicca found her new best friend." _Cloudjumper remarked to Valka.

_"__What?" _Hicca called, hearing her name.

_"__Nothing!" _Valka replied. _"That kid has too good of ears." _Valka remarked as Cloudjumper spread his wings. The small Nightfury did also as the two little ones conversed in the air.

Oh yeah, Hicca found a buddy.

— 7 Years Later, Hicca's POV —

_"__Mom!" _I called down to her from where I was sitting on Toothless. The sun was high in the sky and we still had a good hour before we got to the small village of Limar.

_"__Yeah?" _mom yelled over the wind. Her black cloak was being pulled back by the wind so it was easy to see the brown armor and green shirt she wore. The inside of her cloak was lined with fur so she was still warm as it clasped over her throat.

_"__Toothless and I see a boat below, soar up!" _I warned her as she looked down. The fleet of ships were easy to see, large wooden ships that were decorated with shields and colorful designs of people slaying dragons. Wonderful.

She nodded in affirmation and Cloudjumper tilted his wings, putting in a burst of speed so that he flew higher into the air and out of sight. Since Toothless is much smaller than Cloudjumper, he doesn't need to hide as at this altitude he looks like a bird. Cloudjumper.. not so much.

_"__Do you wanna mess with the slayers?" _Toothless offered.

_"__No, mom got us in trouble last time, remember? And dragons are supposed to be smart." _I huffed and was quickly rewarded with a quick smack from his wing.

"Ow!" I exclaimed. _"Fine, if the little baby wants to mess with a bunch of idiots, so be it." _I say as he cheers.

Sighing, I lean in closer to the saddle and snap my mask across my mouth. Since we lived in the nest, we couldn't find things such as cloth and leather so most of the time we would go to random villages to trade. Also, since mom knew a lot about forgery, we'd built a forge back at the nest. I was still learning but she could easily pound away and make some of the best weapons using something she likes to call Dragon Sheen, or basically a small combination of dragon scales and metal. But we traded kitchen supplies and tools from traders and townsfolk.

Personally, I liked to tinker best. I'd made myself several gadgets and improvised using a lot of dragon secrets.

Toothless tipped his wings, catching a downwards draft as he flew on silent wings. I crouched closer in anticipation. It had become kind of a game between us and whatever ships we found.

We flew behind them before Toothless barrel rolled and shot downwards. The wind whipped the edges of my hair that poked out of the helmet. The blue water got closer and closer until Toothless snapped his wings in and we plunged into the water behind the ship. Since it was summer the water was still cold, but we weren't in any danger of getting sick because of it.

I puffed out my cheeks and squinted my eyes, blinking rapidly as the salt water stung them. Deciding to close them, I felt Toothless pushing us forwards with his wings. It seemed to take forever, or at least until my lungs were about to explode, when we surfaced.

Rubbing my eyes to get the saltwater out of them, I looked around. The fleet was shaped as an arrow and we were at the back left ship, pressed right against the side of the ship. On board were a bunch of very large and gruff people, some with thick, heavy beards and other women with long braided hair.

Since I was never really among humans, I usually didn't care of my appearance. Mom liked to keep her hair long and braided back while I preferred her to chop it off. It was cut just under my chin, though I had unruly bangs too, though those were hidden by the black mask.

Fishing around at my belt, I pulled up the small leather bag. Inside was a bunch of broken egg shells. A while ago, I'd discovered that dragon egg shells explode on impact after accidentally stepping on one. I also discovered that they were a great distraction, causing a small explosion and a loud bang.

Toothless swam alongside the boat which was going really slow compared to the speed I was used to going in the air.

Standing up on the leather saddle, I balanced easily. Plucking out a small pebble like piece of shell, I aimed for the feet of a large man. He had small, really blue, beady eyes with a blond beard that was braided in several sections.

I threw it hard and ducked. Hearing a loud bang and several yells, I snickered along with Toothless. It was seriously entertaining to watch them fret around trying to figure out what caused the bang.

While mom had taught me the Norse language, I was a bit more fluent in the throaty language of dragons, though I could still make out what they were saying. Hearing several men and women cursing, I snickered. They have really dirty mouths.

And then an extremely loud yell got my attention. "Aster! What in Odin's beard are you looking at?" a deep voice yelled.

My head snapped up to look at the deck where a boy was looking over the railing. He hadn't seen me yet as he was near the front of the boat, but he was going to spot me in a few seconds. He had long blond hair that was pulled into a braid that fell over his shoulder with bangs shading his blue eyes.

Grabbing three different pebbles, I threw them near his hands. He shrieked and stumbled backwards as the loud bursts of sound and light scared him away from the side.

"I thought I saw something thrown from the water." I heard him protest.

_"__Okay time to get going now." _I whispered in Toothless's ear. Now this was always the hard part, and the most tedious which was kind of why mom hated me doing this.

Standing up on the saddle, I jumped up onto the side of the ship, swinging up onto the back balcony of the ship. When I was on the deck I was allowed for a moment to observe.

The brutish people were gathered around the front where the small boy was being scolded. A man with a large black beard and brown beady eyes was manning the rudder while a few men and women strolled around, but most were focused on the boy and his father.

Knowing that Toothless was soon about to cause a ruckus, I began the plan. Darting forwards I grabbed several small pebbles and grew them agains the mast. They caused a large explosion of light and several loud cracks.

"What the-" the large blond man roared but I was already in action. A woman lunged towards me but she was small compared to the dragons I wrestled against. And lost to but that's not the point. Dodging out of her grip I danced around the ship, avoiding people and throwing the broken pieces around and creating explosions, disrupting them.

Hearing nails against wood I swiveled towards the back of the ship where Toothless was climbing up the back of the ship, undetected.

I was a blur, sprinting towards the back while several people chased after me, yelling in confusion as I dodged them; a small black blur jumping around their ship.

When I finally reached the back I pushed off a wooden box and launched myself onto the back of the ship. I heard a whiz and something buried in the wood behind me, but I quickly scurried up the back just as Toothless was taking off. Pushing myself out, I grabbed onto the saddle and pulled myself down as he took off.

An axe or two were thrown after us but Toothless was too fast for them. Clutching to the edge of the saddle, I yanked myself down so that I was pressed against him as he climbed in height and speed. This might've been the fastest we'd ever been going.

_"__Woohoo that was fun!" _I whooped and smiled as Toothless slowed down.

_"__Did you see their faces?" _he asked, excitement and adrenaline still running through his veins. _"I think we beat our record for time." _he exclaims, but then a strong down current and I know we're in trouble.

_"__What do you have to say for yourself young lady?!" _mom yelled to us from Cloudjumper who also had a look of disappointment on his face.

_"__Um, we had fun?" _Toothless offered as I unclasped the side of my mask and it was thrown open by the wind. Because of the air, the armor and my clothes were almost dry, a little damp in some places but it was okay.

I saw a smile flicker across her face before she yelled back _"We'll discuss this later." _

_"__Sweet, we're off the hook for now." _I smirked and Toothless shot a blast forwards in excitement.

_"__For now." _mom echoed and I laughed.

— Aster —

"I swear father! There was something there!" Aster protested against his father. Mother was standing not too far away tutting her head as several others snickered around him.

"Stop making up lies Aster and tell the truth. Did you cause that explosion?" his father demanded and he sighed for the second time.

"No father I did not. I just thought that I-"

"So then stop with this nonsense!" he unhinged his jaw to yell at him again but then there was another explosion down at the back of the ship. Several went off at once as people shrieked and hollered, raising axes against this blur that danced around on the ship. Despite there being at least thirty or forty vikings on the ship, it wasn't caught, instead it confused those who tried to pursue it with explosions and it's speed.

It brushed by Aster and set an explosion off by his feet making him stumble backwards as he drew his small dagger.

Near the back of the ship there was a bunch of splashing and something shot out of the water and onto the ship.

"An ambush!" someone cried through the explosions and light shows. Then, just as the blur was here, it darted towards the back. Several people threw their axes at it but it was no good. In an instant it was shooting across the water, rising higher and higher until it disappeared in the clouds.

Later they would tell everybody that it was a new and rare breed of dragon. They named it the Bright Shadow and classified it as a mystery dragon. Similar tales and experiences popped up for years to come. Sometimes the blur would breathe fire, catching things aflame. Sometimes it could create huge bursts of light or be able to freeze entire ships with an icy blast. The stories varied, if the dragon stole, what it did, if it harmed anyone.

But eventually the Bright Shadow disappeared like so many breeds before it. They called it a nuisance of a dragon, a pest before it finally died out.

He didn't believe it. He didn't believe it because in the distance he heard a yell of joy.

— Hicca, Four Years Later —

Heading out of the forge, I was struck with how nice and cold it was out here. _"You up sleepy lizard?" _I smirked as I toed Toothless.

Looking at the sun I'd realized that several hours had passed since I'd last come out here. Really? Hours? It felt like minutes.

_"__Trying to sleep." _he complained and moved closer to the door of the forge.

_"__Lazy lizard." _I mumbled under my breath as I made my way through the cavern towards the King's waterfall.

_"__My King." _I said and bowed to him quickly before climbing up one of his tusks.

_"__Hello Hicca. How has your crafting been going?" _he asked. Over the years I'd become really close with all of the dragons. They are my family. But the King, I was especially close to.

_"__Good, if the mold casts then I'll have my first ever sword. And also I'm nearly finished with the contraption that should be able to set my sword aflame, which I know that you guys will like."_ I smirk as he chuckles, shaking his tusks.

A baby Natter flaps its way over and settles next to me after licking my face several times, making my hair even more unruly. I need a hair cut soon as my bangs are constantly in my face.

Sighing, I kicked my feet against the King's tusk as I petted the small yellow Natter that curled up next to me.

_"__Something is troubling you dear, what is it?" _he asked and I smiled.

_"__I swear you can read minds King." _I say and pause for a while. What has been bothering me? _"Well, I guess I'm just a bit confused. I mean, with what I am. It's just that my eyes and my fangs tell me I'm a dragon, yet my body and my mind tell me I'm a human. And mom is the same way, yet I don't even know how. I know that my father is a viking and that my mother was once a viking, but I know nothing after that." _everything continues to spew out in a mess of words as I angrily throw my hands in the air before running them through my hair.

"I believe it's time that we tell you where we came from." I heard my mom say from the end of the tusk. Looking up, her grey eyes, slitted like a dragon's, met mine and I smiled weakly.

Most of the time we used the language of the dragons and whenever we talked in Norse it was usually a fragment of a sentence. It gets a bit confusing sometimes switching between languages but it works out fine.

"That, would be a revelation. But first, you must sit next to me." I say and pat the spot next to me. It feels weird speaking completely in Norse, yet it's refreshing.

There was a pause where the small Natter cooed and rubbed its snout against my shirt.

"We used to live on an island called Berk." mom begins. "Your father was- is an amazing man. At least, he should still be alive." her grey eyes sparkled in excitement and… love. "He cared for you deeply. You were very small, well you still are-"

"Hey!" I protested but she and the King only chuckled.

"-and no one thought you'd survive one night. Yet you proved everyone wrong my little fighter."

"Not little." I add in annoyance but she only rubs my hair.

"You need a haircut, but that's not important right now. But then, when you were about only a year old, you got sick." her voice got really quiet then and she wrung her hands around the small silver ring that had a simple green rock in the middle of it.

"Is that your wedding ring?" I asked and nodded towards the ring. It might've been sad that I didn't even know if it was my mother's wedding ring or not.

"Huh? Oh, yes. Smart one you are." she smiled. "But you were sick, and you probably weren't going to make it. And you have to understand, that some queens are bad so they command their subjects to do horrible things. But, we used to have raids. Dragon raids. They would often come during the night, taking sheep and cattle and anything else. But one night, there was Cloudjumper. He knew you were sick, so he took us. And brought us here."

"So Cloudjumper kidnapped us?" I asked teasingly as she laughed.

"In a way, yes. But I'm glad he did. Now, King, I do believe that it is your turn to take over the story." she looked at the King who's tusk we were still sitting on.

_"__Yes, I do believe so. When Cloudjumper brought your mother and you to me, she requested that you two be accepted into our nest. So, for the dragons to accept you and to save your life, I gave you a part of me so that you both were part dragon, part human. The best of both worlds." _he said and ducked his head which made the two of us cling tighter and the baby Natter to take off.

"But who was my father?" I ask the one question that has bothered me for years.

She sighed, a look of longing and love in her eyes, "His name is Stoick the Vast, and he was, is, a dragon killer." she admitted.

Dragon killer? My father? A shudder ran through me and she could tell as she wrapped her arms around me.

"And that is why I wanted to stay here. You and I no longer belong there, we belong with the dragons." she said and rubbed her cheek against my head, a sign of affection among dragons.

"But part of me is a- a-" I couldn't even say the word. After having lived with dragons my entire life, becoming their friends, learning from them, having fun, it was impossible thinking that in my blood was the blood of a dragon murderer.

_"__Hicca." _the King said and I looked up from my hands. _"You have lived with us for almost eleven years of your life. At the beginning I was unsure of welcoming you two. But now, I cannot imagine what this place would be like without you and your mother. You are a part of our family now, and will be for forevermore." _he says and blows an icy breath over the two of us.

_"__Thank you King." _I say, ruffling my hair so that the ice fell off and onto my lap.

_"__You are welcome Hicca." _he says as mom drags me up.

_"__How about we go flying?" _she asks and doesn't even wait for a response, already knowing the answer.

_"__Goodbye King!" _I call over my shoulder as I chase mom back to the cave.

_"__Hey, where are you going?" _a Gronkle named Titan asked, flying along the ground as I raced back towards the cave, jumping gracefully from rock to rock.

_"__Flying, wanna join?" _I replied as I skidded to a stop just outside the entrance of our house.

_"__Sure, I'll go get Skreed and Blown." _he replied before flying off to get our other two friend.

_"__Wake up Toothless! We're going flying!" _I smile as I jump inside. There are three rooms in the cave, each separated by a rock wall.

The first was the kitchen that had a fire going and several herbs around the counter and fish hanging from hooks that we'd attached to the ceiling. Several knives and pans hung from the walls and a couple of cushions were scattered around.

Mom and I each had our own rooms because I was so messy. My room had a large, charred slab of rock in the corner, which served as a bed as Toothless and I slept together, in the corner while everything else was a mess of extra parts, tools and small projects for weapons and such.

Grabbing my leather shirt I slipped it on along with my pants and boots as for now I was barefoot. Clipping on my belt I sheathed two daggers and pulled on my chest plate which was attached to the shoulder pads and covered the top of my chest. On the bottom half of my torso I already had on my under layer which was brown and made so that it resembled dragon scales. Yanking on my gloves I pulled on the forearm guards that had several gadgets and even my Fire Breather hidden under the left one. Finally, I clipped my black cloak on, grabbing my helmet.

Usually I never really took off so many layers of my gear, but the forge was extremely hot as dragon scales and Dragons Sheen have a very high melting point.

"You coming?" mom called from outside.

_"__Yeah, yeah." _I replied and hurried out the door to where everyone was waiting.

_"__Oh good, she showed up." _Blown snickered. She was a Timber Wing, and while not fully grown she was easily twice the size of Toothless. Though that didn't make him any less intimidating.

_"__Shut it." _I mumbled before jumping on Toothless. We were the first in the air as mom and Cloudjumper raced to catch up with us.

_"__Am I slow now?" _I called once we got up into the sky.

_"__Shut up!" _Skreed called from below and I laughed. Leaning forwards I accidentally dug my elbow into a small point in Toothless's neck.

_"__What the-" _he groaned before his wings froze and we began falling. I immediately flew upwards and off of the saddle as I distantly heard several chinking sounds.

I heard a loud whooshing above me and Blown was right above me, her large claws extended. Stretching up to catch it, I grabbed her claws. She performed a barrel roll, flinging me up so that I twisted in the air before landing in the middle of her back.

_"__What the in Hel's name was that?"_ I asked, looking to my mom who had caught up with us along with Titan and Skreed. She'd taken to also wearing a mask that was made of leather that seemed to pull back over her head.

_"__No idea. Cloudjumper?" _she asked the dragon under her.

_"__Dragons have many secrets, some that we don't even know. We've shared the ones we do know with you two, anything else we have no idea." _she replied and shrugged her shoulders as we continued to fly.

I heard a screeching sound from above and instantly began moving over to Blown's shoulder. A black blur passed right between dragons and continued shooting downwards.

Jumping off of her shoulder, I fell down towards Toothless.

_"__Ey buddy, mind catching me?" _I called to him. He flipped around, his signature gummy smile with his tongue hanging out. He spread his wings and caught an air current, rising up so that he caught me in his legs. He was warm and I could feel his heart beating in excitement. He flipped over again so that he spread his wings and continued to coast as I clung to his arm, climbing up it until I was back on the saddle.

Yet, as I climbed on I noticed a new trail of spikes that ran down his back.

_"__Hey Toothless, did you notice this?" _I asked and poked one of the spines which caused all of them to flap out.

_"__Yep, I don't know what happened, but check this out." _he said and began climbing in altitude. We soared past Blown, Titan, Mom, and Skreed, climbing higher and higher until we were even higher than the clouds.

I grasped the saddle as I felt him pause as we crested over. And then we were falling.

Toothless straightened himself out into an arrow and pointed downwards as we fell and soared at the same time. The wind rushed by my face and body as I pressed myself to his back. Soon I had to close my eyes as the wind was bringing tears to my eyes. I heard a ringing around us and soon I felt us rocket by the others, heading straight for the ground.

And then we were jerked to the right. I almost fell off but I held on as several more jerks then slowed us down.

_"__That was amazing!" _I whooped as soon as we slowed next to the group of dragons who were watching us.

_"__It looked amazing too." _Titan said. _"Since when can you make such sharp turns Toothless?" _

_"__Don't know, but I have more control and more spines." _he replies.

_"__Well anyways, tag." _Skreed rammed into us. He was a thick dragon with a large, bone hard tail and a large maw.

_"__Oh, you're on." _I smirked as everyone scattered. They were going down.

— Berk —

Today was the day. Stoick reminded himself. To everyone it was just a regular day. People lost their families and friends regularly on Berk. It was part of being a viking. No one was ever too sympathetic about it.

Though he would hide his grief in laughs, he would be drowning himself in mead late into the night, he knew this.

"Oi Stoick." he heard Gobber calling him from outside of his house.

"I'm comin' jus' hold youa' helmet." he bellowed through the door, swinging it open to reveal the patched viking. He had a rock for a tooth, a peg leg and hook for a hand. He was definitely an odd one.

"Good. I was worrie' I'd 'ave to drag you out." Gobber smiled at him but he knew the significance of today for his best friend.

"You'd be lucky to get me out of bed." he told his best friend who laughed half-heartedly. And so today would be another day. Another day where the gaping hole in his heart only grew larger. Today would be Hicca's twelfth birthday.

He saw several of the other children Hicca would've been friends with. The twins were being loud and obnoxious as usual and he could hear Snoutlout bragging about herself from here while Fishlegs argued with her about something. And then Aster wasn't standing not too far off, twirling his dagger around. While he had lost his own daughter, he had watched his child's possible friends grow up. All of them were going to become proper vikings -maybe not the twins as they were always getting into trouble- and his hands shook with a rage and envy he wished wasn't there.

His Hicca would never get a change to train, to kill her first dragon, to wield a sword, to even laugh again. She was taken by that accursed dragon that no one had ever seen before nor since.

And his beautiful Valka. Well, she was taken too. A sharp sting awakened behind his eyes but he pushed that away easily. The truth was it was the sting he woke up to everyday, finding that his beautiful wife was not next to him and his beautiful daughter not in the room upstairs. All that remained was a small crib, the one which she had been taken from. His oath that night was still strong in his mind. A hand reached towards his ring which he'd hung around his neck, along with a small piece of faded cloth that was once to be his daughter's. And so he turned away from the children, envy and sadness showing their ugly colors to anyone who looked in his green eyes. Green eyes which he'd never see again.

**Hope you liked it and seriously, thank everyone who reviews so much! **


	3. Distant Footsteps

**Okay, a serious thanks goes to everyone who is reading this because I seriously though that no one was going to read this thing so thanks for reading! Also: **

**TigerLily the Wild: Yes, both Hicca and Valka can be controlled by a Bewilderbeast but are a bit more resistant because their connection to the King and that they're part human. Also, Valka does originally have grey eyes and nothing was changed besides the pupil. **

** : Thanks for the heads up and really sorry for ruining your appetite!**

**Anyway, ON TO THE STORY!**

**— **Hicca, One Year Later—

It was hard, entering a village. People and children were bustling around as others joked and laughed and hefted weapons over their shoulders. It was a grey day, rain threatening to fall down on the inhabitants of the small village at any second.

Pulling my hood up, I made sure it covered the top half of my face before shifting the bag that hung over my shoulder. Checking one last time that the cloak covered most of me, I walked into the village.

For a bit no one noticed me as I made my way towards the forge in Limar. Mom was back at the nest for now, she'd come down with a fever and Cloudjumper was taking care of her. Sighing, I felt the stares.

I'd been coming here for several years now to trade and they'd never stopped. Not that I could blame them. A small figure in a black cloak holding a bag that looked too large for her to carry? It was a bit odd, I'll give them that.

The blacksmith was pounding away in his forge, clangs echoing throughout the village. Approaching the window there, he saw me immediately. He was a large man -aren't all vikings?- with a close shaved beard and brown mustache.

"Ah, Shade, how nice ter see ya." he said and approached the window. I usually traded with him first, selling in the knives and hammers as they were superior to anything he could make. I'd gotten much better at forging everything from weapons to tools to even my own little inventions like the new sword I'd made myself. Not that a dragon murderer would ever get any of the weapons mom and I made.

Plopping the bag onto the window, I opened it up revealing the many different types of tools and kitchen knives. Some jewelry was also mixed in there too as the Chief's wife was very vain.

"Ah, 'ow many things do we have 'ere?" he picked up a pair of tongs and began examining them. "Fine work, as per usual." he said and put down the pair.

"'Ow many you got?" he asked.

My hands quickly found all of the tools that he usually bought and laid them out on the platform, plus another ten pound anvil as he commented to me last time he'd broken his.

"Good. 'ow much again? 'M 'lways forget'n." he said and turned around.

"Two hundred and ten." I replied as he picked out the right amount of pieces and loaded them into the sack for me.

"T'anks for yer business." he smiled as I nodded and began walking away towards a small tailor's shop in town.

There I got several more pieces of leather and a couple of tunics as I'd ripped up several of them while wrestling with Skreed and Tailtrap.

"Did you hear about the Berkians?" the brown haired woman asked as she wrapped up the tunics.

My muscles clenched immediately at the name. I knew that Stoick was still the chief and if someone mentioned them they were either talking about them getting in trouble or them visiting and both were bad.

"Hm?" I grunted and handed her the proper amount of money.

"Yep, they'll be coming in a month's time. Something about a peace treaty." she smiled and handed me the tunics.

Quickly I shoved the things into the bag and whisked myself out of the shop. As I stalked by people quieted and turned to stare, even a few children stopped their fun to look at the hooded figure. Despite having to stop at the traders and merchants, I hurried out of the small village.

Not that they'd ever have to look again. We weren't coming back here to trade. Ever.

— Aster —

"Hey Aster!" Snoutlout called after him.

"What?" he snapped at her. She was always bothering him while he was studying. As they were vikings they generally didn't praise intelligence as much as they did strength and fighting skills, but he still wanted to be smart. He strived to be the best in everything, to succeed where others lacked.

"I was thinking that you might like to come to my house? Maybe come lift weights with me or something?" she offered cockily, a winning smirk on her face.

Instead of replying he just gathered his books in his arms and stalked off, the girl following him. He'd always considered himself above the other teens, though he still hung around them as their antics were often kind of funny and he had nothing else to do besides train and study. And he really was above them too, he was faster, stronger, and a better fighter than Berk had seen in a long time at his age. Not since Stoick was his age is what his mother told him.

"Oh come on Aster! You've got to eventually cave in to me?" Snoutlout caught up to him and he simply rolled his eyes and walked faster towards the forest.

The girl always had such a high opinion of herself when she really did nothing to deserve it. Though, she was even stockier than him. Not that it mattered, he was all muscles, though not as bulked up as a lot of vikings. Though, it did give him the advantage of speed, and he still had plenty of strength.

"Nope, haven't yet and never will." he replied and continued to walk faster.

"You can't resist me forever! You know my parents are already going for an arra—" but he was cut off as he whirled around, knife appearing in his hand from his belt and he caught the back of her brown vest and pinned her to a pine.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" she said, her eyes widening in fear before a trademark smirk settled over her features. "Can't get enough of me, can you?"

"What?" Aster stepped back. Sure, their faces had been fairly close together, but he had pinned the girl to a tree for Odin's sake! Was she never going to get the hint?

"You're as thick headed as a dragon." he snarled at her before stalking off, leaving her yelling for him to come back, panic in her voice.

Yet he only smirked as he stalked away. She got what she deserved, not that she'd ever recognize it.

He continued to walk and walk and walk, until eventually he found himself lost. Shit. And it was just beginning to rain too! Oh wonderful. So, he trudged on, heading in random directions trying to find Berk.

And he thought he saw a shadow move, but he brushed it away as the wind. After all, the Bright Shadow didn't exist. It was just a dragon. Gone extinct. Before it ever existed.

— Hicca —

"C'mon Toothless, we're leaving." I say and attach the pack on the back of the saddle. He's sitting in a small clearing that wasn't too far from Limar.

_"__Okay, who stole your fish?" _he asked as I clambered aboard and he took off.

_"__Apparently Limar and Berk have decided to create a peace treaty. Meaning that the Berkians'll be making their way to their little town to become buddies. Translating to… we can't trade there anymore." _I said gravely, though, I had to admit, flying did lighten my mood. It always did.

_"__At least they weren't there when you were." _he pointed out and I shrugged.

_"__Still stinks like Odin's socks." _I smirked as I heard a chuckle that vibrated through him as he shifted against the wind.

For a while we just rode the wind, traveling over the sea and occasionally passing several islands which the inhabitants obliviously continued going about their business. I sometimes wondered what Berk was like, where it was. What my father looked like.

I knew that I'd gotten my green eyes from him, even though mine are more dragon like now. I'd known that forever as mom's were grey while mine were a pine green. I rather liked my eyes, as they showed both sides of me. The human, and the dragon.

Seeing several Thunderwings emerge from the waves and begin dipping in and out, Toothless wordlessly swooped into a dive.

"Woo hoo!" I cried out as we spun and ducked under the large wings. Occasionally we would sweep above them or I would jump of and land on one of their backs, sprinting along it before abandoning it as they ducked underwater again. One time I'd been a bit too late and let's just say that I'd been sick for a week.

Reaching out, I caught the loop of Toothless's saddle as he whisked by and I pulled myself onto the saddle, almost roaring in joy. Mom could do a really loud roar, while I was still working on mine. It sounded too human for my taste, not that I wasn't human.

Occasionally I would pity them for being unable to make peace with dragons, but most of the time I didn't care. They didn't concern me unless they tried to hunt us. Then they were the enemy, same as anyone else would be if they tried to harm my family.

_"__Nice to see you Wingless one." _a smaller Thunderwing called as she dove in and out of the waves.

_"__Nice to see you too Caver." _I said, laughing as she splashed me with a flick of her tail before leaping out of the water and soaring next to us just above it.

_"__Are you going to stop by and say hi when you pass by the nest?" _I asked. Thunderwings often migrated and didn't nest as they were more of nomads. The same went for a bunch of different dragons like Change Wings and most other water dragons.

_"__Yep. Tell the King to be expecting us in a month or so." _she said and began to fly up a bit before rocketing back down into the water.

_"__Will do!" _I called after her before the two of us flew off. There was an island nearby and so Toothless landed on a cliff that jutted out from the forest.

_"__Don't tell me we got side tracked?" _I groaned and checked my compass which was strapped to my upper arm.

_"__We did, didn't we." _Toothless groaned and flopped to the ground.

_"__Yep, and just our luck. It's about to freaking rain." _I snarled and plopped down next to him as I heard the first few droplets land on my mask which was still covering my face.

_"__Well, time to go find shelter." _Toothless said and got up.

_"__Who says we have to find shelter?" _I called after him, not getting up.

_"__I do. Now come on before you get sick." _he grumbled and began stalking off.

_"__Overgrown lizard." _I grumbled and rolled aside to get away from the fire blast that was shot at me.

_"__I'll leave a trail so the sulking two leg can find me." _he called and I yelled after him that I wasn't sulking but he just snorted and continued walking off.

Standing up from the crouch I was in, I flipped the mask back. My attire had changed -again- and I had a few more personalized weapons along with more black. Mom often wondered why I mostly chose black and brown and I always told her it helped me blend into the night as she cackled at my response.

_"__What? I ride the son of the night? Why shouldn't I be the same color as him?" _I would smirk and she would just shake her head and laugh.

Folding up the map, I tried to track where we were to no avail as we had never come this far north.

"Damn _those Thunderwings." _I cursed under my breath before folding the map back up. It was raining a bit harder now, still not too hard but enough so that I could hear the loud drips behind me every so often.

I wondered what island I was on, but quickly the rain begun to get heavier and I eventually had to follow Toothless's trail.

And distantly I could hear someone trudging through the undergrowth which only quickened my speed. It's something that I would never admit, not even to Toothless, but I was scared of them. People. Granted, I was one of them too, but from what I knew of them, they were fierce warriors. Dragon killers. And I was both, so I'm not really sure what they would think of me. They might be scared, or angry, or disgusted.

And all three would hurt.

**I kinda feel like all I'm posting are short chapters but don't worry, the action shall start soon (hehehehe) Also, I will be posting a (hopefully) really long chapter tomorrow and after that the schedule shall go back to normal but thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed :)**


	4. Roars and Companions

— Seven Years Later —

The cold night air blew across my face, tickling the hair at the back of my head.

_"__You ready bud?" _I shouted to Toothless as we were flying over the sea. No better place to do it here at least. There was an island not too far away with a dock that I could climb up to if I ended up falling into the ocean. And Toothless could pluck me out of the waters but that was a bit dangerous.

_"__As ready as I'll ever be to watch you hurl to your death." _he grumbles. As NightFuries are notoriously protective, he doesn't want me to do this, but he has no choice.

_"__Clingy lizard." _I mutter as I stand up on the saddle, crouching low as my heart pounds in my chest.

_"__Make your last words a bit more meaningful, will you?" _Toothless teases and I laugh a bit.

_"__At least if I die, I die in the name of fun?" _I offer as an uneasy chuckle ripples through him. And that's all I need.

I jump.

A lot of the time when flying, I'd jump off or perform crazy tricks in the air to be caught by another dragon. It came naturally, and none of my family would ever let me fall, catching me on their back or reaching out a claw to catch me if I fell. And even when I'd come back after a long time of being gone and throw myself into the swirling tornado of dragons, jumping from their wings to their backs and falling again to say hi to someone else, I'd never truly ever fallen.

But now that I was, it was the scariest thing I'd ever done. And boy had I done some crazy things in my time.

Taunting vikings, wrestling with dragons, handling white hot iron daily now, I'd even tamed wild dragons for Oden's sake! Yet those were nothing compared to this.

Compared to the feeling of my stomach hitting the back of my spine and the air refusing to enter my lungs. We were up pretty high, so I let myself fall. My brain was short circuiting but I just remembered to slip the small leather rings over my hands and spread my arms.

The reaction was instant.

I immediately stopped falling, instead I glided forwards through the clouds which were a few hundred feet from where I'd fallen. I was unstable, wobbling a bit in the air, but I was flying. I was flying!

I meant to whoop, or holler or scream in joy, but not to roar.

For a second I looked around, expecting a dragon to appear by my side or Toothless to be right behind me, but no such luck. Then, when I realized what had happened a grin split my face so wide and another roar erupted from my throat.

It wasn't as loud as a dragon's, nor as throaty or gravelly. It was lighter, almost like a mountain lion's but not as deep and resonating.

Basically, it was nothing like anything. Like mom's roar. Like my roar.

Another roar rippled the air around me and I looked up to see Toothless, his gummy smile right beside me as he fell back behind me.

A whistling sound and a blast under me bolted me up as I laughed gleefully, riding the bumps that Toothless created with his blasts.

I roared again, as finally being able to.

And then I heard a scream.

Looking down, I saw that we were flying over an island. The island was vaguely familiar, as Toothless, mom, Cloudjumper and I have been everywhere on our trips, but there was something about it right now specifically. Besides the burning houses, of course.

It was almost as if I could smell older smoke, and see the flames from a different angle instead of soaring above it. And then the true shock hit when I felt a warm breeze over me.

_"__Move Nightfury!" _a voice hissed above us.

_"__Toothless!" _I yelled but he already knew what to do.

He dove so that he was now gliding under me as I snapped my arms to my sides, pulling them out from the rings as I fell, landing on Toothless in a crouch that rattled my knees.

I remembered a couple of dragons that mom and I had met a few years ago who were under control of a Queen. We'd encouraged them to go to the King but they'd refused out of fear and instead came after us. Thankfully Toothless and Cloudjumper had flown us away as neither of us wanted to kill a dragon. Not unless they threatened the nest.

But these dragons were _attacking _the village. I could make out silhouettes of dragons, roaring and fighting, being slaughtered by vikings who roars rivaled their opponents as smoke spiraled into the sky.

_"__What's going on down there?" _I cried to Toothless as we circled around the village, unseen overhead. Told mom the black would pay off.

_"__Seems the dragons are raiding them for food. Must be a queen controlling them." _he concluded, all playfulness and glee that had once filled him had been drained, along with mine.

_"__We've got to stop them, that's for sure." _I said and Toothless nodded.

_"__I'll go in. Wait up here for the white flare." _I said and he began to protest but knew it was useless.

_"__Okay, but if I see that you're in any danger at all I'm coming down there and slaughtering everything in sight." _he growled as I patted his back.

_"__If it's the dragons, yes. If it's the vikings, don't. You'll be overpowered. The village is huge, and we know that NightFuries are a prize. Just fly back and go get mom and Cloudjumper." _I told him and felt him tense but he nodded his head again.

Expanding his wings, he dove down, a familiar screeching echoing around us. We ended up getting so close to the ground that the fires almost licked his paws.

Villagers screamed and roared when they saw him, some flinging traps towards us but Toothless easily dodged.

Passing over a house that wasn't on fire, I quickly crouched and launched myself, landing on the slanted roof as Toothless continued on, climbing high not the sky until he disappeared. Not that I was watching. No one had noticed the small figure that had jumped off of the NightFury so I quickly slid off of the roof.

It was a long jump, but I braced myself in the air to land on my knees. I'd taken some large dragon scales and use them now as pointed knee and shoulder pads. My feet hit the ground first, but I quickly skid to a stop on my knees, rolling to the side so that I popped up in the chaos.

Vikings were running everywhere, battling everything from dragons to fires as I saw two blond vikings run by, buckets in hand as they argued and bickered back and forth.

My attention instantly flicked over to where a little girl was running from a Terrible Terror that was chasing her. Anger and grief flickered through me like the fires surrounding me but I silently skipped forwards.

I brandished my sword, one that I'd forged myself with swirling designs flicking up it as I clicked a button and it caught fire. I sprinted silently towards the Nightmare in the chaos, stepping in front of the girl and locking sword on horn with the dragon.

It was extremely surprised before it snarled, opening it's jaws and flipping me up. Unknown to it, I was used to this as I flipped around so that I landed on top of it's skull where I then pressed at the base of it's horns, making it -begrudgingly- yelp in pain as I then jumped off of it, staring into it's yellow eye with my own.

After years of living with dragons, fighting and wrestling with them, I'd mastered the gaze that said 'You think you're tough? Give me a shot.' The dragon took off immediately as I moved on to the next beast.

A viking.

She was stocky, a brown fur vest and oily black hair that was messed up under one of the vikings signature -and weird- hats. She yelled, raising her axe to a Gronkle who was retreating but about to be killed.

Whirling around, I blocked the attack as she yelled in surprised but was thrown off and backwards. Pulling the small bead from the pouch at my boot, the bead was thrown and exploded near her head, forcing her to pass out.

Luckily I didn't have to deal with her as an older viking -looking a lot like her- rushed towards her, concern etched on his face.

"Snoutlout!" I vaguely heard him yell but I was already searching for my next target.

I jumped off again, this time defending a viking as a Nadder was just about to kill him. Jumping up I moved towards them at the blind spot in the side of their vision before kicking them upside the jaw, sending him whimpering away.

The man stood there staring at me as I moved on again. Near the end of the raid I couldn't count how many people I'd defended and how many dragons I'd sent whimpering away or how many vikings I'd knocked out but by the end adrenaline was still humming through my veins and I was smiling. I hadn't worked this hard in years.

It was still pitch black, the fires were being put out across the village. I darted towards a Zippleback. Flicking the container out of my sword hilt, I opened the container and watched as the Zipplebacks' own mist gurgled out before I then swung my sword through it, forcing it to explode as I ducked behind one of it's wings and avoiding the brunt of the explosion.

The two headed dragon turned around towards me, eyes wide and shocked as I gazed aggressively at it. It was traditional after you'd beaten your opponent -if it wasn't a death match- to then roar at them so they had to submit. I'd avoided roaring until now, but I would need to get going soon as the fighting was almost done.

So I roared. It echoed more then I thought it would, but the Zippleback whimpered and took off immediately.

I let myself pause for a second, taking a breather as I calmed my breaths which were huffing out of my chest. Snapping my mask shut and pulling the hood of my cloak over, I reached to my pack where I had my flares when I heard a blood curdling scream.

Fighting was still going on and dragons were still roaring as vikings charged so I was pretty sure no one else heard it.

Jumping up, I grabbed onto the ledge of a triangular house, scampering up it as my eyes searched the burning village for the source of the scream.

I immediately found it's source and my brain slapped itself for the boy… Man.

The details of him were hazy, though he was most definitely taller than I was, though he was much leaner and faster than a usual viking. He was backed up against one of the cliffs that then dropped for over two hundred feet before it hit the roaring waves below. And, of course, it was cornered by at least four or five different Nightmares, all aflame and all angry, if the roaring and cussing spewing from them was anything to go for.

My brain took a rain check, my body instantly jumping from roof to roof which was a bit hard as some of them were on fire. Seeing a Nadder flying over the space, I catapulted myself up, grabbing one of her claws.

_"__What is this?! Human get off of me!" _she and tried to shake me off. Too bad for her I was pretty good at holding on. After a second or two she began flapping furiously, gaining altitude as we soared over the burning buildings and into the night.

So, my body made the only logical choice it could think of. I jumped.

Unlike the first time I'd jumped, I let myself catapult down. My adrenaline only increased as I continued to fall, nearing the ground.

And just as I'd decided to jump, my arms hooked around the rings before pulling outwards so that the wings were extended.

The man was losing ground and fast as he dodged the Nightmares and swung at them. He was clutching his side, only using his axe with one arm as he unsuccessfully tried to hack at the dragons.

Tilting down, I slowly forced myself to lose altitude as I neared the point on the cliff. After what seemed like forever, I was only twenty feet from the ground. That's enough.

Pulling in my wings, I plummeted towards the earth. The wind whipped even fiercer and the smell of smoke filled my nose.

If I kept falling I would land right on top of one of the Nightmares, which, thankfully, wasn't on fire. My feet hit the top of it's skull with enough force to throw it's head to the ground, cracking the dry dirt underneath.

I knew it was okay, dragons could take even worse of a beating than that, and quickly jumped off. My sword came up just in time to smack away one of the Nightmare's muzzles which only made it angrier.

"What in Odin's beard!" the viking exclaimed, but was quickly cut short as he took a swipe at one of the Nightmare's which lunged at him.

My body worked of it's own accord, only aware of the beat of my heart, the adrenaline pumping through my body, and the others around me.

A dragon swiped at me, trying to trap me under it's cage like claws. Instead I ducked under it, sliding on the dirt so I was under it's belly, just near the middle of it's ribcage. Jabbing a fist upwards, I hit the weak spot and it yowled, jumping up so I could roll out from under it.

Hearing a screech from above, I tackled the man who was snarling at one of the dragons. He went down with a yell as I pressed him to the ground. I was just in time too as the blue bolt of fire hit one of the Nightmares square in the back as it reared up. It roared even louder.

Man, this kid really pissed them off. I thought before jumping up again, stepping in front of the guy, flaming sword out.

Yet, there were still four Nightmares left. While I was fast, they had strength in numbers and brute force on their side, plus they were willing to spill blood. I was not.

A hand went to my last resort, the small ball placed in a pouch in my belt.

Yanking out the tab, I threw the small container in the center of the crowd. I had ten seconds left.

Turning my head skywards, I saw a flicker of black heading straight towards us. Perfect.

Nine.

I grabbed the man who was struggling to get up. He yelled and tried to yank his hand away but I could smell the metallic scent of blood and the slickness on his hand.

Eight._"Toothless!" _I roared in urgency, dragging the man to the edge of the cliff.

Seven.

Seeing the flicker of black gaining speed. A dragon lunged towards us and I parried it, batting it on the snout with the hilt of my sword before kicking under it's jaw.

Six. I kicked another dragon's horn, making it's sense of smell go out of whack.

Five. Hearing the screeching sound from Toothless, I backed up a bit, still protecting the man out of instinct.

Four. A flash of white hot blue light hit one of the dragons and I pushed myself over the ledge along with the man.

Three. The dragon's furious roars echoed around but I could still hear my heart pounding in my ears. Toothless dove underneath us, his large green eyes turned back to me as I maneuvered through the air. I landed on him with a thud and scrambled to pull the man onto the saddle with me. Gods he was heavy.

Two. _"We need to get going! I threw an Ice Breath." _I shouted at Toothless as he caught the wind on his wings, pushing down with a beat that stirred the water that we almost crashed into.

_"__What? Are you crazy?" _he yelled at me.

One. _"Uh, maybe?" _

Zero.

The sounds of cracking was loud enough that we could hear them, even from at least two hundred yards away.

Turning around in the saddle, I checked out my work. Extremely sharp, blue icicles jutted out from every surface within a fifty foot radius. The dragons themselves were no where to be seen, probably having flown off.

Smirking to myself, I then turned my attention towards the man as Toothless continued to fly higher and higher. He really was very different from most vikings. He had on a red shirt with metal shoulder pads that had two or three spikes jutting outwards. His white fur vest was stained with a dark liquid that was a bit hard to see in the darkness but I already knew what it was. Blood.

_"__Either you're finally gaining weight or we have a second passenger." _Toothless commented with a hint of a question in it.

I didn't respond.

Instead, I unwrapped one of the leather cords from my boots. Unlike most viking's boots, mine weren't lined with furs or anything but instead were sleek, the top being wrapped with several cords.

Taking the string, I carefully leaned him back and wiped the blond hair out of his face which his hairband was neglecting to hold back. He had a strong jaw and his eyes were closed and since he hadn't screamed from being on a dragon yet so I assumed he was passed out. That or he could fall asleep in a near death situation.

Tying the cord around his waist and tethering it to the saddle, I leaned him back onto the bundle of supplies.

_"__Next island we see, we need to stop." _I commented as I turned back around.

_"__Why did you bring the viking?" _Toothless questioned. For a while, I didn't respond. Instead the cold night air whipped around us, cooling me down from the fighting. I was more exhausted than I had been in a long time and it felt really nice. Though my shoulder would hurt from having to drag the man up onto Toothless.

_"__He was gonna die. I'd rather not have that happen." _I say and shrug.

_"__If he tries to kill us, I'm just gonna sit there and laugh." _Toothless comments and I allow myself to chuckle.

_"__Lizard." _I say and bring up a hand as to block Toothless's hit.

We continue to soar for a while, probably an hour or so, and I let a wave of calm descend over me. Flying always does that.

And then I ask myself the more pressing question. What do I do with him? I can't really dump him on an island. One, he's injured. Two, he'd probably die, by starvation or other vikings most likely.

Sighing, I realized I'd just earned myself another companion. Wonderful job I did there.

A small island jutted out from the waves, covered in large pines and trees. Rocks dotted the cliffs which the waves crashed against. _"That look good?" _

_"__Yeah." _I reply.

Soon, we've landed in a large clearing. Jumping off, I turn around and begin untying the man.

_"__This one is heavy." _I complain as I shoulder him before setting him down in a patch of grass.

_"__Not my problem." _he replies, standing behind me as I straighten out the man before standing up.

_"__Shall we set up camp?" _I tease and begin to untie the pack from Toothless's saddle.

_"__Yeah, yeah. Come over when you're tired." _he says before slumping away. I don't blame him, we'd been on a trip and were supposed to be home in a few days time.

Normally we'd ride through the night but we'd done that for a while now and we were both tired.

Sighing, I looked down at the man again. He actually looked around my age, around twenty, and somehow familiar.

Bending down, I grabbed the bandages and salve, made from an herb that only grew back at the nest and sea water.

The white vest was easy and thankfully wasn't stained with blood as his shirt was. The shoulder pads were made of metal, connecting with a ring in the middle of his chest and were kind of hard to get off, but I managed. His belt was next, a small grey skull residing in the corner and next was his red shirt. When he was finally bare chested an unfamiliar squirming feeling settled in my stomach.

While he was lean, yet obviously strong, muscles lining every inch of him. It kind of made me wonder about myself. I never really took off my gear besides to bathe, and even that was done in my wrappings. And I never really valued appearances anyways. The only thing I cared about was my hair which I kept short enough so that it was just above my brow and usually just at my chin so that it wouldn't snag. But I never looked at my features, much less my body. Though, it was obvious that this boy was attractive.

The skin was split just above his last rib, a large puncture probably from being head butted by one of the dragons. The skin around it was purple and bruised.

After I grabbed a canteen and rinsed the wound before spreading the salve on it. He winced once it touched the skin and I could sympathize. Once I'd gotten several nasty cuts on my side when trying to tame a Black Slinger and I'd been bed bound for a couple of weeks.

After gingerly spreading the salve over it I wrapped it up in the bandages before searching him.

He'd probably dropped his axe when we'd fallen but he still had two knives at his belt and one in his boot. After folding his red shirt and vest, I placed them next to his head before covering him up with one of my blankets.

Finally, I sat down and took my helmet off. My hair was sticky with sweat which the cold night air froze as I ruffled it.

Taking a sip of water I laid back against the grass while munching on some dried fish. The stars were winking above me, sparkling against the night's utter blackness.

Knowing I couldn't fall asleep there I closed the pack and stumbled tiredly over to where Toothless was already snoring a few feet away. After poking him with my toe he sleepily opened his wings were I curled up against him. He was warm and his leathery skin was soft and his heart beat drummed through my ears and quickly lulled me to sleep.

—

Sunlight streamed in and of course it had to hit me exactly in the face. Grumbling, I elbowed Toothless's stomach who then twitched in response before rolling over and letting me clamber out of his embrace while he stood up.

The clearing was even prettier in the daylight, the pines and trees lit by the sunlight as birds chirped in the surrounding trees. The grass was soft and the place was beautiful which was rare as often times the landscape was harsh and unforgiving.

The man was still swaddled under the blanket, his face scrunched in a pained expression.

_"__Morning." _Toothless grinned a gummy smile as I groaned.

_"__Go get some fish or something." _I say and make a shooing motion with my hand as he lifts his wings and flies off.

I plop myself down next to the… prisoner? No, more like captive. Maybe? Names aren't important right now.

I take a quick inventory and am a bit annoyed to find that I'd used a lot of my inventions the night before. Placing all of the things back I took the viking's temperature. He seemed to be at a normal temperature so I stood up and began to gather kindle and small stones to make a fire.

By the time Toothless landed, two fish in his mouth, I'd started a small fire.

_"__How's the little murderer doing?" _he asked and dropped the fish into my hands.

_"__He's on his way to a full recovery." _I said with fake enthusiasm before setting up a stand to place the fish over the fire.

_"__So basically we're stuck here until he recovers?" _Toothless asked to which I nodded. The fish finished cooking and I devoured my own, saving the other one for later.

_"__I'm gonna go take a bath."_ I say. _"So stay here. And watch him." _I flick him as he grumble but agrees.

_"__If he wakes up just yell and make sure he doesn't kill you!" _I yell back as I begin to hunt through the woods.

On the way in I remembered I'd seen a stream somewhere. After a while I heard the gurgling of water and smile. The creek was clear and a couple of feet deep with stinging cold water and pebbled banks.

First off was my set of wings, which was a pack that attached to my ankles and had the wings extend from the sides. Next was my armor, shoes and the brown corset-like-thing that was cut like dragon scales plus black pants. I took those off too and soon I was only in my wrappings.

The water was nice and I was quick, dunking under to wash the sweat out of my hair before scrubbing at my skin to get the stickiness off.

I washed my clothes before setting them out to dry. In the mean time, I cleaned the armor. It was easy work, though it took time and by the time I was done cleaning everything the sun was high in the sky and my clothes were dry.

Quickly dressing, I made my way back to the campsite where Toothless was dozing off.

I approached quietly and low to the ground.

_"__Rar!" _I yelled before grabbing his maw as he jumped up at the sudden sound. He swung his head around, used to me sneaking up on him while he was sleeping. I hung on, smiling as I swung my arms around his neck.

He went still and stood up on two legs and began walking around.

_"__Am I getting a piggy back from the great and feared NightFury?" _I smiled and dropped to the ground as he did the same.

_"__Maybe." _he smiled. No matter how sarcastic NightFuries could get, they were extremely sweet.

_"__Thanks." _I smiled and patted the top of his head before making my way over to the boy.

_"__Let's see." _I tutted and bent down, pulling the blanket back.

He moaned at the cold and his hands searched for a bit to find the blanket before grasping it and pulling it back over him. I could barely contain my laugh.

I tried again and this time he let me yank the blanket away. The bandages were fine and the wound was healing nicely as far as I could tell.

_"__We should be able to get going in a few days." _I tell Toothless as I sit down and lean against his middle in between his paws.

For a while we play a game we'd made up where he blew smoke rings and I tried to throw pebbles through them. Soon night fell and I chanced a glance over at the boy. He was still sleeping, though his face was relaxed and now he really looked my age.

After restarting the fire and finishing the other fish, I curled up against Toothless.

_"__Think he's gonna wake up tomorrow?" _he hummed.

_"__I hope, I'm getting pretty bored." _I barely said before slipping into unconsciousness.

— Two Days Later —

I woke up to a rumbling. Honestly, it's what I usually woke up to as I always slept in Toothless's embrace.

_"__Someone hungry?" _I asked and wiggled out of the embrace and into the sunlight again. I guessed it was around noon as the sun was a bit too high in the sky for my liking. My muscles were a bit sore from everything as they usually were.

_"__Yes. Can I go fishing?" _he asked excitedly and I just smiled and nodded and he was off. The man was still sleeping, his breaths coming out even and peaceful. Sighing, I poked the ashes of the campfire with the tip of my boot so that they stirred and the grey smudged my boot which I wiped off.

Moving over towards the man, I pulled the blanket off of him again, making sure that it was well out of the way so that he couldn't reach out and grab it.

The bandages were a bit dirty from laying in the grass but otherwise fine as I rolled him over -with a grunt of dismay from him- and unwrapped the gauzes around his side. The puncture was still purple and the skin around it tender, but it was healing better than it could be. After lathering another layer of cream on it, I rewrapped the wound and recovered him in the blanket to which he happily snuggled in.

It was funny that a murderer as fierce as him could look so relaxed and comfortable. It almost was against nature.

My helmet was laying on the pack so I slipped it on, buckling the mask over my mouth. It smelled of smoke and herbs, the smells refusing to wash out after so many years of wearing it.

And then someone grunted.

Immediately I crouched low to the ground, slipping back out of instinct into the shadows. The man's brow was furrowed and in a second his eyes fluttered awake. For a second his expression remained calm as he surveyed his surroundings and then he tried to bolt up but yelped when he pulled the skin over his side taut.

"Where in Hel's gates am I?" he muttered to himself. Interesting.

Slowly, I crept out of the shadows. I regarded him as if he were a dragon egg, ready to explode at a moment's notice. A hand groped at his waist for something and he growled and clenched his fist after a while. It didn't sound like any sound I'd ever heard before. It was more human than anything I'd ever made with my own voice and he gritted his teeth before trying to sit up.

When he finally managed to do his stomach growled.

"Oh great." he muttered and I cocked my head. His movements were a bit jerky, as to be expected with his kind of injury, but he was more unbalanced in most of his movements anyways. They weren't smooth like mine or mom's and I could understand why. Didn't grace come easy to most?

Instead of making my way over to him, I crouched down further behind the tree. I'm not sure how long I sat there, watching him try to stand up but when he finally did he stumbled to the ground and fell to his knees. He made the strange growl sound again before trying to push himself back up again.

And then finally when he got standing again, I saw the small black dot in the sky and before I could say anything, Toothless had landed silently at the edge of the camp.

_"__Now you've done it." _

**Hope you enjoyed this ****chapter and**** thanks for reading! I just had to update because I was so excited about this ****but**** anyways, I'll get back to my ****schedule**** after this. **

** : I don't mean to be rude but if you don't like it, don't read it. **

**Guest: ... tehehehehehehe :D**


	5. Silence

**_"_****_Now you've done it."_** I groaned. The man flinched at the sight of Toothless, his eyes widening as Toothless regarded him.

He took a wary step back, fists in front of him as a series of expression flitted over his face before he clenched his jaw. Even in his injured state I was a bit surprised when he began to stalk over towards Toothless, jaw set and eyes hard.

Instincts immediately took ahold of me and without a second thought I darted forwards and stood between him and Toothless. I was wearing my mask and hood so it was impossible to see my eyes, which was good.

For a second he didn't see me, but when he did, he stumbled backwards, surprise etched on his features.

"W-who are you." he tried to steady his voice but I could hear his fear and I smirked. Though he seriously needed to get back to bed. I could see the wince on his face as he took a step back and he wasn't going to help his side doing so.

I began to walk towards him but he only stumbled back further until he tripped over his own feet and fell onto the ground with a yelp. Humans are idiots.

— Aster —

It was bad enough that he'd woken up alone, in the middle of the woods, shirtless and with gauzes wrapped around his side. He honestly didn't think it could get any worse.

So now, he had a strange cloaked figure leaning over him, way too close to be comfortable and a beast not too far away. He was in deep trouble.

His side was throbbing and he felt clunky and tired and hungry. He couldn't see under her black cloak and then she had on a black and leather mask on. But he knew it was a her. She carried herself with extreme grace and she was a bit too short to be a man, with narrow shoulders which what looked to be two dragon scales sat atop of to serve as shoulder pads. Natter scales. He wondered if they were spoils of war.

She leaned over him and he felt her eyes picking him apart and assessing everything about him.

"Where's my axe?" is all that he can force himself to say.

She doesn't respond, she didn't before, and instead straightens up, turning and sweeping around to stalk towards the dragon.

"Wait- don't!" he yells after her but he's too late. He expects the dragon to snarl or bite off her arm but it actually inches closer. He sees a hand reach out to nuzzle the dragon's face and a low growling sound. Though the beast's large green eyes haven't laid off of him.

And then he catches sight of what most surprises him. A saddle. It's infused with a strange type of light gray metal and leather with a small pack resting on the back of it.

He watches in awe and fear as she easily picks her way across the back of the dragon all while it refuses to take it's eyes off of him.

Her sudden choice to clamber onto the dragon snaps him out of his frozen state and he struggles to stand up. His side burns and stretches with each movement and it's almost as if his skin is ripping open. When she jumps off of the dragon, she holds a small package.

She sits down by the small fire that he'd noticed when he'd woken up and then her masked face turns to him. He almost feels as if a glint makes it's way through the shadows of the hood but he can tell that she's expecting him to sit down.

He eyes the dragon, still unwaveringly staring at him and she seems to sense his unease and surprises him further by turning around to face the dragon. He assumes they're having a silent battle and that the girl wins when the dragons dragon seems reluctant to go but not before he gives the boy a growl that clearly says 'hurt her and I'll kill you' before he flies off. The small camp is surprisingly empty without the dragon and only silence. He pauses before making his way over to the fire, wincing as he sits down.

She ends up handing him several pieces of what looks to be some sort of dried meat and several berries that he's never seen before. The girl begins eating so he's sure they're not poisonous so he eats along with her.

Her guard seems to be down a little bit, though he can feel the unspoken rule hanging in the air: Do something threatening and he's dead. Though, he does have to admit she looks nice in… her armor?

It's very strange, a breastplate made of a light metal along with armbands with several different types of gadgets decorated across them. Two buckles find their way across her thin waist and one more at her hips which a sword sheath and several other things hang from. Her knee pads are also Natter scales that gleam in the light, though her boots aren't really like a regular viking's, or anyone else's for that matter. They're slim and have several cords wrapped around the top of them. She seems to be wearing black leggings with what appears to be brown, cloth dragon scales making their way down the sides of them as well as under her breastplate and across her waist.

She looks intimidating, even without the mask which he can't see much of. A clasp is situated on the left side of the mask, the flap open so that she can eat, but she's almost being cautious to not let him see most of her face. The rest of the mask is black and fairy normal looking, though he swears her black hood pokes up at two points almost as if she has horns.

"So, you aren't much of a talker." he observes. The meat is very good and the berries are really juicy, which kind of surprises him. She bobs her head in agreement and the corners of her mouth tilt up.

"Who are you?" he asks again. Over the past few minutes he'd become a bit more comfortable around her, even though he could tell she was very intimidating.

"Who are _you_?" is what she replies with and he smiles. Though, she speaks a bit weirdly. It's not that her voice is deep, it's actually fairly high pitched, but it's rough. Almost as if she's used to talking in a much gruffer tone. And the way she speaks is a bit choppy, not as fluid as how others speak.

"Aster." he replies. Two can play the silent game.

"Hm." she hums before snapping the mask closed and standing up.

"Where are you going?" he asks. Okay so maybe he's not too good at keeping silent. He tries to stand up but winces. She continues along to where a pack lays on the ground. After digging around in it for a bit, she stands up with a container in hand.

"Lay down." she tells him.

"What?" he stares up at her in confusion as she extends one of her hands towards him. Apparently she's not in the mood for repeating herself as she just continues to stare at him. Finally he obliges and shoves the rest of the berries in his mouth before grasping her hand. It's callused, from what, he doesn't know, and she pulls him up with ease. It becomes very clear to him that she's much stronger than she should be. Much, stronger.

She then proceeds to walk over to where a fur blanket is laying in the grass, where he woke up.

"What are you going to do?" he asks and walks over anyways. He gathers that she could've killed him while he was passed out, and even as he moves to sit down in the grass so he knows she's not going to harm him.

Instead of replying she places a hand on his chest and pushes him down so that he winces. He's very proud of his muscles, though not boastful as Snoutlout is. Gods she's irritating.

She begins to work, pulling back the bandages and tenderly poking him with her slim fingers. He hisses in pain as she nears his side and he looks down to see the wound. It's a purply red but only a bruise, though he suspects it used to be more.

Her fingers dip themselves inside the dark purple paste in the container and begin to apply it to his wound. It burns wherever it touches and he hisses and reaches out to clutch the blanket in pain. After what seems like forever she leans back and rewraps his chest again.

"Thank you." he says as the pain subsides to a dull throb. She pauses for a moment before standing up again and pressing him towards the ground again, pulling the blanket over him.

The message is clear; Sleepy time. Now.

"You really need to work on communicating." he observes but she just remains silent and walks away from the camp.

The last thing he sees before he closes his eyes is her slipping into the shadows of the forest. He falls asleep faster then he'd like to admit.

— Hicca —

_"__Toothless?" _I call. I'd told him to go down by the creek knowing that he was scaring Aster. That was the human's name.

_"__How did it go with the viking?" _Toothless uncoiled from where he was resting in the shadows. While most dragons preferred the sunlight, Toothless in particular loved to sit in the shadows.

_"__Um, well?" _I said and sat down on the bank. _"I honestly don't know. This is the first time I'd actually tried to interact with someone and I think I failed." _I smirk and he nudges my hand over his head and curls around me.

_"__You're fine. I think I'd be more concerned if you didn't have a problem interacting. It's only natural." _he hummed, the vibrations rippling through me in an attempt to calm me down.

_"__Thanks bud." _I say and leaned further into his warm body.

Eventually I began nodding off, my mind wandering through topics and mulling over the situation I'd gotten myself into. And my mind came up with a decision before I even knew it.

I was going to take him to the nest.

_"__What?" _Toothless bolts to alert and I instantly jump up and unsheathe my sword, the flames sparking to life.

_"__What's wrong?" _I asked after I realized that there was no danger and turned around to face Toothless.

_"__You were mumbling. You said something about bringing the human back to the nest."_ he informed me and with a sudden start I'd realized that I had been thinking about that, and that it wasn't that bad of an idea.

_"__Really? Well, it might not actually be that bad of an idea." _I defend myself, my mind already planning the journey ahead.

_"__I'm not sure some of the dragons would like it if you brought a human to the nest. Even if you are the Princess." _he snorted at the title.

It had only been a few years ago when an old Skrill named Bolten had given me the nickname. When I'd asked him why he'd told me that me and mom were technically descendants of the King and so we were technically princesses. Ever since then it was almost as if mom and I had been given a bit more power. We were already considered dragons at the nest, and all dragons were equal save the King (and the hatchlings), but ever since the title had given we were listened a bit more to than others occasionally and I guess it made sense. The King had loved the title for the two of us, as he loves all of his family, but he has a soft spot for mom and me.

_"__I told you not to call me princess." _I growled and he only chuckled as we made our way back to the camp. Making sure my helmet was secure, I adjusted my hood before we broke through the clearing.

Aster was sitting up and staring into the dying fire. He'd put on his red shirt and the white fur vest. He looked less like an injured person and more like someone who was extremely bored. Which, I guessed, he was.

He regarded us with wide eyes but otherwise remained still and silent. I felt Toothless glaring at him and wanted to chide him but couldn't so I just flicked his ear. He growled and shook his head as I smirked behind my mask. The day had passed pretty quickly and the sun had already disappeared behind the tops of the trees.

"So, are you going to tell me who you are? Possibly remove your hood?" he asked, staring straight at me as I paused. Toothless growled deep in his throat and his tail came to loosely wrap around my feet.

I honestly wasn't sure how to reply. I mean, mom had taught me how to read and write in Norse, and I can speak the language with ease. She'd also taught me other things like a bit of math but most of the time she taught me about the forge. So, you could just say that while I had a fairly normal vocabulary, I don't really know how to interact.

Even when trading I barely spent more than an hour in the presence of humans, most of it spent trading with merchants and shop keepers. I don't know how humans interact, their customs or what is friendly and what is more. I know absolutely nothing. None, zip. Zero. Honestly, I'd thought that I'd never need it. Clearly I was wrong.

Finally I come up with a response. Not necessarily a good one, but a response nonetheless,"In time."

Toothless gives me a look of 'nice one' and I want to tackle him but know I can't in front of the human.

"So that's it? I'm just supposed to be content with not knowing who you are yet supposed to trust you?" he replies sharply. The trust part got to me more than his rage.

Trust was a key thing with dragons. If you weren't considered trustworthy, then you got nothing. Everything was based off of honestly, family, and trust being the biggest one. I internally wince and Toothless growled, sensing my unease.

"Yes." I snarled before settling down on the ground.

"Wow, thanks. That helps so much." he replied sarcastically. Toothless curled around me as the sky darkened.

Humans are a piece of work.

—

It was almost funny, as I lived with dragons I had to be a heavy sleeper. Many types of dragons are nocturnal so they were often loud during the hours that they were awake. That and a lot of times hatchlings would sometimes snort fire while they slept. And yet, I awoke to footsteps.

I immediately reacted, jumping out of Toothless's embrace and grabbed the intruder by the arm. Shoving his socket up, I brought his hand around his back in one swift move and shoved my thumb into the pressure point at their neck.

He then yelled loudly which alerted Toothless.

"What in Thor's name are you doing?" Aster yelled. Oops.

Quickly releasing him I stepped back and pulled out my sword. While I could see just fine by the moonlight, I knew he couldn't.

"What was that for?" he complained and held a hand up to his eyes to block the light radiating off of my sword. I shrugged.

"Go lay back down." is all I told him before beginning to walk back to where Toothless was curled again, eyes half opened in annoyance and sleepiness.

He took a step towards me, a hand outstretched towards my hood, but I was already a step ahead of him. Dodging to the side I zipped around to his back. For a second he was baffled before he whipped around, his hand going to an empty belt.

His eyes spark in realization of something and he paused. "It was you!" he exclaims.

I cock my head in confusion.

"For the past couple of years there has been a dragon raiding ships. No one has ever caught the dragon as it moves too fast and creates large bursts of light. They named it the Bright Shadow as all it looks like is a black blur, but it's you!" he explains and it stuns me for a second.

And then I laugh.

I hadn't meant to, but I did and I instantly covered my face with my hands, even though it did no good as I was only covering my mask.

Now I remember him. He was the small boy that had almost caught me that one time so many years back. Also, they had named me the Bright Shadow, which I kinda liked.

Toothless began to snore but I'd have to tell him about this in the morning. Forcing the laughs down, I stood up straight.

And in an instant, his hands reaches towards my hood. Again. Vikings never learn.

I duck out of the way, stepping to the side.

"Odin's beard you're fast!" he says and steps back.

"Sleep." is all I reply before I dart around him and sit against Toothless. I watch as he pauses for a moment, catching up with my actions and turning around, his jaw set as he then stalks over to the patch of grass that was his bed and yanks the blanket over him to fight off the cold.

I try to fall asleep, tucking myself under Toothless's front paws and tuning myself into his heart beat but it does not good. This often happens to me, whenever I wake up I usually can't fall back asleep. Most of the time I'd go back down to the forge and begin hammering away. Maybe working on a prosthetic for a dragon or maybe something as small as a door hinge. The forge was one of my favorite places. The smell of the fire and the musk scent of ore made me feel right at home and I loved being able to create things. It was also one of the only things that almost connected me to Berk.

Mom's father had been a blacksmith and that was how she'd learned how to work in a forge. She'd become an apprentice of sorts but when her father died she stopped working in there. I'd never asked why.

Soon I watched the sun rise over the treetops and light up the world again.

_"__Morning." _Toothless grumbled hours later.

_"__Hm." _I grunt and stand up. _"I was thinking we could maybe go back to the nest today." _

_"__Good. It's been at least three weeks and I miss everyone." _he yawned and stretched which then made me yawn.

_"__Let's get packing then." _I say and pick my way across the camp. There really isn't much to to do, the only things to be done were to attach the packs to the saddle and wake up Aster.

Since when did he become Aster and not the human, or the man?

Hm, whatever.

Leaning over him I shook his shoulder. He mumbled and flipped over, wincing as he rolled onto his side. His eyes cracked open before he jumped at seeing me hunched over me. I pulled back and stood up, extending a hand which he took and winced again.

"Why did you wake me up?" he asks and stretches. He's seemed to grow at ease around me, though I can still tell by the way that he occasionally eyes Toothless that he's still wary of him. Toothless probably likes that.

"We're leaving." I say and grab the blanket, bundling it up in my arms.

"Why?" he asked but I just didn't respond. The small fire had gone out yesterday so I kicked the ashes around so that it was a bit harder to tell we'd been here. The only evidence of a camp was the small patch of burnt grass and the divot where Aster slept.

"Where are we going?" he asked, his voice becoming harder as I walked towards Toothless. He probably knew he wasn't going to get anything out of me and that he wouldn't be able to force the information out of me, so why was he still trying?

It didn't matter.

_"__He's going to have to ride you bud." _I inform Toothless, no longer caring if Aster hears it.

"What was that?" Aster asks, suddenly tense.

_"__Really? Does he have to?" _ he complains and I smile behind my mask.

"Get on." I say and point to Toothless's saddle.

"No, there's something in the area." he protests.

"Get on." I grit my teeth. Why does he have to be so stubborn?

"No, I'm not getting on a dragon!" Aster exclaims, his voice anger filled and violent.

"On."

"No."

"On."

"No."

"O-N." I point to the saddle and Toothless snickers. _"Oh shut up." _

"Wait, you can talk to them?" Aster asks. Why are humans so curious? Forcefully grabbing his arm, I yanked him over to where I was standing. Toothless growled in the close proximity but Aster doesn't scream or run so that's a good start.

He jerks his arm away from me, sticking out his chin and clumsily climbing onto the saddle.

_"__At least he's amusing." _Toothless huffs as I quickly jump on, settling myself at the front of the saddle and as far away from Aster as possible. I can tell the feeling is mutual as he's scooted himself as far away from me as he can. I should be offended, but I'm not. I don't care. If anything it boosts my pride, to spread fear into the eyes of a viking is an accomplishment only the highest ranking dragons can boast.

But, as soon as Toothless was in the air Aster grabbed onto me like a dying leaf to a tree. His hands wrapped their way securely around my waist as he hollered for his life.

"WHOA! WHOA! WHOA!" he screamed right in my ear and I wanted to push him away but then he'd fall off as we climbed up and up into the sky until we were above the clouds.

Even once we levels out his hands maintained their grip around my waist, though he wasn't too scared.

His hand timidly reached out and brushed the clouds and I heard a small breathy laugh which was good, but he still had his other hand wrapped around my waist. I cleared my throat which made him pull his hands away so quickly as if he'd been burned.

"Um, sorry." he mumbles before going back to his cloud watching. It isn't until an hour later that I become restless. Usually when flying Toothless and I entertain ourselves by practicing rolls or new tricks. Just recently I'd been practicing my own flying but I couldn't do that now.

After five more minutes gliding off on my own seemed a bit more of a better idea. I just couldn't sit still, especially since it was extra nerve wracking with Aster on the back.

Not that he was being particularly bad or annoying, in fact he seemed to be calm and… happy? I'm not good at reading emotions. But it was just strange, having someone I hadn't known for all of my life flying with me. I was used to that being the case with other dragons, but humans? A clump of dirt was probably more social than me.

So, I slipped off.

Vaguely I heard Aster scream but I fell fast and the wind whipped by my ears so it was impossible to hear.

Slipping my hands into the rings, I spread my hands out and stopped my descent, catching a gust of wind so I flew up past Toothless before settling just in front of him.

I could hear Aster's yells muffled by the wind and I could tell he was angry. I smiled.

_"__A boost please?" _I called to Toothless who smiled. Using his snout he pushed me forwards and up a bit before blasting a bolt under me, bumping me up. Even though Aster was still sitting on Toothless's back I let out a whoop of joy as I flew up again before settling down in front of Toothless.

It might've been an hour that I was gliding next to Toothless, it's hard to tell time when I'm flying, but eventually my arms and legs crap up from being clenched so long so I let myself drift back to where Aster is still clutching the seat, his eyes closed and his jaw clenched.

Pulling my wings in I land gently on the saddle, yet still waking Aster who jumps at the sudden jarring. His eyes skirt away from mine and I shrug and turn around, sitting down on Toothless again.

_"__We're almost there. Wanna pick up the pace?" _I ask as we pass a small island that signifies only a few more miles until the nest. Until home.

_"__Heck yeah!" _he barks back before putting on a burst of speed. I smile, it's hard not to when flying. My hood had been thrown back long ago by the wind so I was enjoying a bit of fresh air that wafted through the air behind me.

I jerked to the side, holding the saddle to keep me on. Just beside me was Aster's outstretched hand, reaching as if to pull off my helmet. The urge to growl deep in my throat and show him who's boss is almost overwhelming, but I tame myself and turn around.

His jaw is clenched even tighter and light blue eyes have narrowed on me.

And so I do the only logical thing to do. I stare him down.

His stare is like a cold dagger, trying to bury itself in me. But my gaze is a sword which parries his swipe and knocks it from his hand. But also, what I find in his gaze is something that I'd never expected from a viking.

Curiosity and awe.

Of what?

My question is easily answered when I hear a roar behind me. _"Welcome home!" _

I pivoted around to see the dragon in question, a beautiful blue Nadder sidled alone beside us.

_"__Good to see you Stormfly!" _Toothless calls as I also greet her.

_"__Why's there a human?" _she asked, eyeing him up as he did the same to her.

_"__Eh, spoils of war." _I joke. _"Nah, there was a raid and he was injured. I couldn't just leave him there because long story short we were falling off a cliff so we had to take him with us. Plus, he seems to like you." _

_"__Nah, Hicca just likes him." _Toothless says and I instantly feel a burning on my face. It's similar to the feeling I'd gotten whenever I'd do something stupid or strange that every hatchling did. But it was different, more fluttering.

_"__I'd suggest you shut up Toothless?" _Stormfly snorts

_"__I second the suggestion." _I growl and dodge a hit from said dragon.

_"__Anyways, yeah. I'm not really sure what to do with him. Any ideas?" _I turn to her.

_"__We should tell the King and Valka. For the mean time I can watch him in the forest." _she offers and I smile.

_"__Thanks." _

_"__How about down by the glow fish lake?" _Toothless offers and we both agree. Moments later the nest is in sight. It's still just as magnificent, small blue and yellow flowers covering anywhere they can as spring is approaching. Nowhere I've been and nothing I've ever seen -and I'd seen a lot- could ever compare to the Nest. Ice and rock wove together beautifully, creating a mashing effect as green plants overflowed wherever they could. Most of the dragons were inside the huge island but occasionally a scaled and colored figure would slip out of the nest and fly off on duty.

"Whoa." I heard behind me. Yep, this viking was different. In a good way, of course.

We veered to the left, brushing over the pine trees that made up the small forest. In the center of the area of pines was a crystal clear lake which long, pale fish slithered in, just barely cutting the water above them. Green algae also took over much of the pond and banks.

Toothless dipped down and landed near the banks in the clearing that faced the large mountain of a nest.

Slipping off, I flipped my hood up before rubbing under Stormfly's chin in greeting. When I heard both dragons chuckling I turned around to see Aster unsteadily climbing off of the saddle. His legs wobbled and shook and I couldn't understand why.

_"__What's wrong with him?" _I asked Stormfly. She'd once been captured by some vikings before Toothless and I had rescued her and several others, so she'd know more about humans that I would.

_"__He's tired and I'm sure he's not used to flying for hours on end so it's probably normal." _she shrugs. _"Wait, why am I answering the question, you are the human." _she pointed out and I just smile and shake my head.

"So you really can talk to them." Aster observes and I nod. "How?"

Now that one catches me off guard.

"Always have." I say before hopping onto Toothless again. "Stay here."

I don't wait for a response before we're already shooting off towards the nest.

_"__Great social skills. I'm sure mom's proud." _Toothless says sarcastically and I just swat at him.

_"__Mom! Cloudjumper!" _I call through the tunnels as we weave our way through the rock tunnels, half gliding, half jumping from rock to rock as we make our way towards the center of the nest.

_"__Welcome home!" _a couple dragons call and I yell back but continue on, jumping from ice to rock to back on Toothless who's flying throughout the huge space.

_"__Here!" _I hear a voice behind me and I push myself onto Toothless as mom and Cloudjumper appear beside us.

Mom had changed over the years, adopting an outfit similar to mine only with a brown and blue coloring. Plus, her mask was different with four large horns sprawling outwards from the back instead of two like mine which were made to look like Toothless's horns. Her eyes were also covered with a thin cloth and so was the hole for her mouth. She also had a staff that served as almost leverage so that she could grasp onto talons, swing around on horns or use it as a weapon with the pointed edges. Designed and made by yours truly.

_"__Where have you been missy?" _I ask but Toothless spreads his wings and I reach towards the end of mom's staff, pulling myself onto it and stepping on the end as she pulls me up. Both of us are much stronger than we should be, and I don't really weigh that much, especially for someone who's pure muscle.

_"__Oh, yanno. One of Dagger Wing's gears broke so I've been repairing it. Usual stuff." _she said and hugged me. I buried my face into the furs that flopped on her back, smelling the familiar scent of ash and ore, plus a hint of pine.

_"__So! I have a couple of design ideas-"_

_"__Mom." _

_"__Also, Cinder's leg is rusting so we should probably take care of that-" _

_"__Mom." _

_"__Oh, and a couple of Spitters hatched so we need to go see them-"_

_"__MOM." _

_"__What?" _she asked and paused. _"Oh, sorry. We've just missed you." _she says and pulls me into another hug.

_"__Yeah, I know. I missed you too, but I have… news." _I said and pulled back from the hug as she furrowed her brows.

_"__Hicca has a pet human." _Toothless snickers and I wheel around to face him.

_"__Well you're not helping." _I glare at him before turning around to mom.

_"__Human?" _she asks and I nod shyly.

_"__The thing was, we were flying, and there was a raid, and people looked like they were in trouble so I went down to help. And then I saw this guy, and he was backed against a cliff with a bunch of Nightmares surrounding him, and they were pretty pissed. And so yeah, he got injured and then we kind of fell off a cliff?" _I say and mom laughs.

_"__It's alright kiddo."_ she says and ruffles my hair. I sigh at the familiar gesture. So she's not mad.

_"__Where is he now?" _she asks and begins turning around, eyes scanning the nest.

_"__I'm having StormFly watching him for now down by the glow fish pond." _I inform her with a smile. _"So, what should we do with him?" _

_"__Well," _she pauses. Something flashes across her face, a mix between pain and sadness but she shakes it off quickly.

I'd learned that she did that whenever unwanted memories came back. They used to happen a lot more, but this is one of the rare occasions when a frown graces her face and her eyes cloud over. _"how about you talk to him. Introduce him to dragons, then we'll go from there. I can inform the King."_

_"__Should I go now? Just me?" _I gulp. At least mom had lived some of her life with humans, while I over here had spent my days not touching any living creature besides dead fish and dragons. And occasionally mom and I hug but that's usually when one or the other comes home from a trip.

_"__Yes just you. I think we should go one person at a time. Once you're sure that he's okay, you may bring him to the nest." _she smiles and I smiles back.

_"__Awesome!" _I yell and jump on Toothless.

_"__Be back before sunset!" _she calls and I nod before we're out through one of the hatches in the ceiling. Conversations held while flying were normal for us.

Toothless and I quickly whip towards the pond, flying silently into the line of trees surrounding the dirt clearing. Crouching low, I slid off of Toothless and edged towards the clearing, observing as pulled on my helmet and flicked my hood up.

Aster was sitting on the ground, a stick in front of him as he drew in the dirt. StormFly was curled up in a ball a bit aways from him, steam occasionally rising out of her nostrils.

Creeping my way towards him, I leaned over his shoulder to see what he was drawing. It seemed to be a crude drawing of StormFly, though the face was off, it was good. He still hadn't noticed me so I backed up before grabbing a small pebble and flicking it right at him.

He whipped around, a hand flying to his belt and groping for what I assumed was his missing axe.

"Oh, it's just you." he sighed before pushing himself up. StormFly's head snapped up, taking in us.

_"__I assume you've got it?" _she asks and I nod as she takes off.

There's a loud pause. I'd never thought pauses could be so loud. The sun is beginning to sink towards the horizon. Living with dragons, quiet moments were rare and peaceful. Not this… awkward.

"So," he begins and kicks the dirt of his drawing around. "you have kidnapped me. What are you gonna do now?" he asks and his pale blue eyes lock with mine which are hidden to him.

What was I going to do with him? Let's figure that out later.

"So you're saying you're a kid?" I ask and he looks at me in surprise before protesting.

"NO! It's just, that's what it's called. You, kidnapper." he says and swiftly lunges at me. There was no anger in his words, as I could tell that he only meant to catch me off guard as to maybe unmask me.

Sadly, Toothless didn't know this. He leapt from the edges of the forest, snarling and growling, his eyes narrowed into slits and he whacked Aster back with his tail and sending him stumbling backwards.

_"__I knew this was a bad idea." _he growled as he wrapped himself around me.

_"__This was not a bad idea! He wasn't going to hurt me, and do you think I couldn't handle him on my own?" _I ask and tap my foot as he relaxes.

_"__Sorry." _he mumbles and looks down like a kicked dog.

_"__It's fine." _I crouch next to him and scratch behind his ear. _"I just don't want to see him hurt as we both know he'd be as good as dead if he tried wrestling." _I told him as he smiled and flicked his tail.

_"__Fine, I'll go back to the nest, but just send up a flare when you need me." _he says as he sends one last glare to Aster before taking off.

Aster is left sitting there awkwardly, eyes wide as he observed us.

"He's protective." I explain as Aster chuckles.

"That's putting it lightly." he nods his head and a hand reflexively goes to rub my neck. Some of the tension is drained from the air.

"So Dragon Girl," he says. "you live with them?"

I nod.

"Why?" he asks.

"Always have. Always will." I shrug and shift my weight. His eyes were practically boring holes into me and I couldn't say that it wasn't making me nervous and fidgety.

More silence. Sometimes I would long for silence like the silence I would get with flying or when the rare times when no one in the nest is making a sound. I would never long for this silence. That, is guaranteed.

"Can you take off your mask? I'd like to know who my captor is without being blasted to the next island." he says and I stop myself from recoiling or growling.

"You wouldn't like what you'd see." I reply, crouching down beside him so that my cloak fanned out around me.

"What, are you scarred or something? I've got a few scars myself, but it can't be that bad." he raises an eyebrow which I take as a challenge.

Standing up straight I flick off my hood and unbuckle the mask before pulling it off. At first I shake out my hair, leaving my eyes closed. But when I open them, they're instantly attracted to his gaze where they're locked.

The silence is back. Ugh, can't I just slice it up into pieces and throw it in the pond? The fish would probably like it.

**AN: Sorry for the bit of a late update (to be fair it's still the 14th here) but yeah! Thanks for the comments and encouragement and please R&R. **

**Toothless lover 13: Well the King kind of gave Valka and Hicca part of himself (sounds wrong I know ****shut up****) which then integrated into their appearance and mind, hence giving them the ability to talk. **

**And sorry if I don't respond to your comment, I just think it's a bit easier to answer just the questions. Also, if you do have a question or critique (be nice) I'd love to hear it! Hope you enjoyed reading!**


	6. Tears

— Aster —

He had expected scarring, maybe a pearly white eye like an older woman in the village had. But he wasn't expecting what he saw next.

The girl was actually extremely pretty, her face sloping and gentle. Her auburn hair was wild and short, her bangs fell into her forehead. The tip of her nose uplifted a small amount while freckles dotted their way on her cheeks and her nose. Her rosy lips are parted a small amount and there's something different about them but that's not what captured his attention.

Her eyes are an extremely rich green, with small, lighter green specks flecked throughout them, but her pupils. They aren't the small perfect marbles that he's used to. Instead they're stretched more, not slitted but more like a curved diamond.

They were dragon eyes.

Ever since he'd been a boy, he'd been trained to fight dragons. Kill on sight. That's what had been drilled into his mind since day one. Kill on sight, kill on sight, kill on sight. Dragons are heartless monsters who lust for blood and murder without hesitation. He'd lost his mother to a dragon raid. Everyone lost someone at one point, no matter how fiercely they tried to protect them. The chief had lost his wife and daughter to a dragon raid long ago. At least twenty years ago. So when he saw the eyes of a beast within the body of a girl, he didn't know what to do.

It was as if her gaze had stopped his brain and confused his thoughts so that they lay in twisted knots that kept on squirming and tangling themselves further.

When she turned around, their gaze breaking and her cloak swirling behind her, he snapped out of his frozen state.

He pushed himself up and walked over to where she was picking her way by the forest, stooping down and picking up fallen tree limbs and slicing through them with her knife as if it were porridge.

"What are you doing?" he asked and began picking up some wood with her.

"A fire." she responded before walking away from him. She'd clipped her helmet to her belt and he was able to really examine it. It was made of the same black and brown as the rest of her outfit was, two large spikes, similar to what her dragon has, erupted from the back but otherwise it's lined with smaller spikes.

"So why am I here?" he asked.

She didn't respond.

"Don't you have the decency to at least tell me what I'm here?" he demanded, following her. She began picking up small twigs and sticks so he begun doing the same.

She didn't respond.

Anger built up inside of him, a dam that was threatening to break yet he knew if it did that it wouldn't matter. He couldn't beat her. From what he'd seen she was extremely fast and skilled at fighting, she had a dragon, and he was stuck on an island full of the beasts. It only made his rage grow.

A yell escaped him as he threw the timber in his hands to the ground before he wheeled around and punched a tree that wasn't too far away.

His knuckles split and blood began to trickle from the wound. He was breathing heavily, his chest heaving as he clenched and unclenched his jaw.

Several clicking and low growls sounded behind him so he wheeled around to find the girl not too far away from him. Her bright green eyes still unnerved him but he found them beautiful in some way or another.

Wait? He did?!

He mentally slapped himself.

"What?" he asked, his hand beginning to throb.

"Nothing." she mumbled and took a few strides forwards to grab his hand, examining it under her green gaze which was so unnerving. Not beautiful. Nope. Not at all.

There was silence. Silence was often welcomed in Berk, as vikings are a rowdy bunch. Often times he would escape to the forest where he would simply throw his axe around, burying it deep into trees to calm him or get his anger out. But this silence was unwelcome.

"So, what's your name?" he asked. He expected her to ignore his question or give him an answer that often confused him more or didn't even answer the question.

But instead she looked up, her green gaze searching his for a second before she smiled. He found out what was off about her mouth. Her canines were much longer than normal, extending over the lower teeth like fangs. No, they were fangs.

"Hicca." she answered and dropped his hand before moving back towards the small stack of wood that she had assembled.

He wasn't sure what had done it, but the anger had disappeared. In that moment she looked so human, a startling difference from how he'd viewed her earlier. And now she had a name.

Hicca.

The name sounded familiar, but he quickly brushed it away as he moved to sit down next to her, a slight smile on his face and he watched her stared into the fire.

She was crouched, not sitting down, as if she was ready for something to attack any second. This worried him so he tensed up himself which made her look at him.

"Sorry." she mumbled before plopping down.

The sun was grazing the tops of the trees now, casting orange and golden light throughout the sky and filling it with warmth. He let out a puff of air and was surprised when it didn't materialize before him like steam. It was much warmer on the island than on Berk, which he hadn't really noticed until now but he smiled. On Berk one was lucky to get a day without the biting winds.

It was a stark contrast to the warmer weather and gentler breeze. Though it was still harsh, any normal person would've been wearing a coat or some furs but he liked feeling the cold.

— Hicca —

Surprisingly, he seemed a bit more peaceful since his outburst. Vikings are so impulsive. Well, so are dragons.

He at least wasn't angry anymore, a small smile making it's way onto his face. It was the first time I'd seen him smile.

The silent moment was interrupted by a growl. I jumped out of my skin, already in a crouch and a dagger already pulled out.

"Oh, sorry." Aster said and his face was slightly red. "I'm just a bit hungry." he shrugged.

Right. People get hungry. Like everything else.

Gods I forgot.

I made my way over towards the pond, moving slowly as to not disturb the fish that skimmed the surface by the banks. The body of water was almost a mirror that had been melted into the land. The banks didn't drop and instead merely slid down towards the center. It was one of my favorite places to be.

Flipping my dagger through my fingers I edged myself closer to the water where a fish was languidly swimming by the bank. In an instant I thrust my dagger forwards, spearing it in the side as it thrashed and squirmed but the dagger was barbed so it couldn't wiggle out off of it.

The water was kicked up as I yanked the fish up as it continued to squirm before slowly falling limp.

"Whoa." Aster said as I sat down next to him again. I smirked.

"How do humans collect fish?" I ask and turn my gaze to him as I begin skinning the fish and slicing it up.

"With nets. And rods. But we don't really eat fish, the yaks and the sheep are often enough. Plus, we have a lot of grain and eggs." he shrugged.

"Hm."

"What to dragons eat? Humans?" he snorted.

"No. I'm not eating you now." I point out and I look up at him to see his face is completely red which kind of confuses me but I just decide to explain further, "We generally eat only fish. Some dragons eat fruit or certain plants but mostly fish."

"We?" he asks, his face slowly turning back to its normal color

"We. I'm considered as much a dragon as I look like a human." I shrug and finish skinning the fish.

"Oh." he says.

Quickly I stand up, grabbing one of the flares from my ankle and pointing it skywards. With my thumb I snap it in half, the top part falling off as a white ball shoots from the end that I'm holding. It screeches through the air before dying once its way about a hundred feet up.

"What was that for?" he asks as I sit back down.

"A flare. Like a summoning signal." I shrug.

"For who?"

"Toothless." I say. A small dart of black shoots out from the nest.

"Toothless? Who's that? The Natter?" he asks and I swear I hear a glimmer of excitement in his voice.

"No, my NightFury. The Natter's name is StormFly. Do you like her?" I turn to him as the black speck looms overhead.

"Well, yeah. I've always kind of liked Natters. Is that a problem?" he asks just as Toothless lands behind me, eyes narrowed.

_"__Are you okay Hicca?" _he asks and moves towards me, wrapping his tail around me and making Aster scoot away a bit which was okay with me.

_"__Yeah, I just thought that you'd like to eat with us. Plus, you cook excellent fish." _I say and he relaxes a bit.

_"__Okay, but if he even comes near you-" _

_"__Yeah, yeah, I get it. You'll use him for target practice." _I smirk. Holding out the skinned fish he sends a small blast, instantly turning the outside golden brown. From experience I know that the fish is going to taste amazing. It always does.

"Here." I say and slice the fish in half down the middle and handing a piece to Aster.

"Thanks." he mumbles before beginning to pick out strips as I did. It tasted like home and melted in my mouth as I sighed.

"Wow, this is good!" Aster exclaimed and I laughed.

_"__At least he recognizes good food when he eats it." _Toothless grumbles and I laugh.

"Toothless thanks you for the compliment."

_"__No I don't" _he squawks.

"Well, as close as a Nightfury will thank a human." I laugh. Aster surprises me by chuckling along with me.

"Wait, what do you mean by 'a human.'" he says.

"Um, humans haven't always been the best to dragons." I somber up, my eyes flicking to his. "You should know this." I say and the words hang in the air. He only nods.

He doesn't try to defend himself or protest abut out dragons raid them. He just acknowledges it. He's different. In a good way.

"So, how did you tame the unholy offspring of lightening and death?" he asks and I choke on my food as Toothless beams.

_"__Does he mean me? I like this kid even more." _Toothless states and I clutch my sides in laughter so I'm leaning into his side. _"What? Am I not intimidating?" _he asks.

_"__Around Dragon Nip? Not so much." _I say as he scowls.

"What?" Aster asks.

"Nothing, it's just. Well, the dragons that you so hate are my family. And besides, after you've seen a dragon around Dragon Nip you may want to think twice about calling him the 'unholy offspring of lightening and death.'" I snicker and Toothless's tail whips around to smack me.

_"__Hey!" _I shout but he laughs.

"How can you even talk to him?" Aster asked and leaned forwards.

"Always have," I lied even though I knew exactly why. I was the princess, it was in my blood, "but you called Toothless a him, not an it?"

"He is a he, right?"

"Well, yeah, but I don't believe that most vikings like dragons." I said.

He was silent for a second before he spoke. "From what I've seen Toothless really likes you, listens to you even. He has emotions, and also I would rather not be blasted to the next island over by offending him."

_"__Wise choice." _Toothless hums behind me and I laugh as the sun sinks lower in the sky.

"He said 'Wise choice.'" I answered his unasked question.

"Ah." he smiled. "So, besides your name, I don't know much about you, Hicca." he said and I nodded, finishing my half of the fish off.

"Well, there's not much you'd probably be interested in." I shrug.

"Oh come on. You're a dragon rider for Thor's sake! I think you have some pretty cool tales to tell." he said.

I felt my face heat up slightly but pushed the response down quickly. "Well, for a while we traveled around the world. It's amazing how big the world is! How diverse the cultures."

"We?" he interrupted.

"Yeah, me, my mom, Cloudjumper, and Toothless." I nodded. "But it's amazing! You won't even believe the different lands. We even made a map of everything that we found. It became so big that we had to hang it up on the wall!" I was talking animatedly now, my hands expressing my excitement as he watched, transfixed as I told him about the different places we saw. He asked questions occasionally but most of the time he just listened as I told him about our adventures.

I told him how mom had become obsessed with this fruit called grapefruit and how she ended up bringing a small seed back so that we now have a tree of grapefruits every year. He listened as I told him about all of the cultures, the people we'd observed from a distance. I told them how they'd sing and dance and get drunk on mead late into the night. And he just listened, like it was the most interesting thing in the world as he asked questions and made comments that had us wiping tears from our eyes. I told him about the things we saw that how many different places there were and how sometimes it was so boiling hot it was almost like a forge.

He listened as I rambled on for so long I lost track of the entire point of the conversation before we'd eventually make our way back. he would tell me stories of people and weird trappers he knew and for a while, the limitations and barriers fell down. It was nice.

"And the dragons! It's almost impossible to count how many species there are. We made a book though. Mom wrote in it mostly and I drew the pictures, but now it's about this thick!" I showed him with my hands.

"I think you might need to add the Bright Shadow to the book." he said and both of us laughed.

"Right along next to the Obnoxious Viking." I smirked as he pretended to be offended. It was then that I realized how much my guard had dropped. But it was hard not to. He just seemed to have a magnetic pull to him, and I then realized that he'd almost… befriended me.

My laughing stopped short and he looked at me curiously.

"You okay Hicca?" he asked and I nodded as I pushed myself up. Toothless noticed and uncurled from around me, stretching as he stood up.

"I have to get back soon. Here." I grab a couple of blankets from the pack and toss them to him.

"So you're just going to leave me out here without weapon, alone?" he asks.

"You won't be alone." I tell him before sliding onto the saddle and taking off. StormFly was going to have a fun night.

—-

_"__Mom?" _I call through the house. Moonlight now shines in through the nest and illuminates the sleeping dragons.

_"__Someone was certainly out late." _I see my mom leaning against the edge of the door frame as she smiles.

_"__Sorry, I was making sure Aster was comfortable." _I tell her and she freezes.

_"__Where did he say he was from?" _she asks as we both sit down on some cushions that lean against a wall.

_"__He didn't. I haven't asked him yet, but I've learned that he likes StormFly so I had her go watch him for the night. He seems to still fear dragons, but he doesn't try to kill them, so that's good." _

_"__Well, the King said it is far due that you got yourself a human friend, and who knows. We could finally start a revolution." _she said with a painful smile and I just nodded.

_"__He saw my eyes." _I told her and by the sharp intake of breath I could tell she was surprised. _"He didn't run though. Instead he asked me why, and I was afraid to answer him."_ my voice got thicker and thicker, like it might before I started crying.

Which was stupid because the only time I'd ever cried was when I'd gotten lost on a separate island while we'd been trading. I remember being so terrifyingly scared, thinking that the vikings might come and get me, or the possibility that I would never be found again by my mother. Luckily Cloudjumper had found me within minutes, as he is a tracking dragons. But in that time my eyes had shed little droplets of water which had confused me.

Crying was for pain. Not for fear.

**Hey everyone! Thanks for ****the reviews and I seriously hoped you enjoyed! I welcome critics, but don't be too mean please. **

**shutupandreview11: Thanks for the idea, but my brain was just kinda like; nope. she will be anonymous to him.. hehehehe and my brain is not one to be persuaded. Which often enough gets me in trouble for pretty stupid things. Oops. **

**AnonymousStalkerFriend: No offense taken! And thanks for the correction, but if you don't mind I'll keep it as Nadder in the previous chapters otherwise it'll take a while to go back, fix them and update the story. But thank you for caring :D **

**TigerLily the Wild: Sorry but I don't really get the question... *sweat drops***


	7. Pinecones and Height Troubles

**Crying was for pain. Not for fear. **

_"__Why do I feel so confused?" _I asked her and she let out a pained laugh.

_"__I think you might like this boy. Which is good, because I was thinking that you were coming to hate humans." _she said and wrapped an arm around me.

Soon Cloudjumper had his head rested on mom's shoulder and Toothless clambered into my lap even though he was _way _too big to do that anymore.

_"__You'll be fine Hicca." _he assured me with a lick and I laughed, patting my hair down so it laid flat again.

_"__I know." _

—

_"__I'm hungry." _Toothless complained as soon as I began stirring in his embrace.

_"__Aren't you always?" _I'd responded before crawling out of his wings and into the sunlight.

_"__Don't try to act like you're not." _he says and i just smirk as we make our way into the kitchen.

_"__Morning!" _mom smiles and places the fish over the fire.

_"__How are you always so enthusiastic in the morning?" _I grumble and plop down at our table.

_"__Oh, I used to have to get up many times during the night to take care of a whiney baby." _she teased and sat down next to me.

_"__Haha, so very funny you are." _I mumble incoherently and feel my head droop. I hadn't been able to sleep last night so I found myself in the forge, relentlessly hammering away at a new dagger as one of my old ones had broke.

_"__I know I am. You though, that's a bit questionable." _she says and in my sleepy haze I swat at her only to have her dodge my hit and laugh.

_"__So, when do you think you'll be able to bring the boy here?" _she asked and stood up again, the fish being done if the pleasant aroma filling the air had anything to say.

_"__Today at the least, tomorrow at the latest." _I reply as Toothless and Cloudjumper gorged themselves on their share of raw fish.

_"__Hm, and what's his name again?" _mom asked.

_"__Aster." _I replied and my head lolled to the side, landing on Toothless's back.

_"__If you don't wake up soon I'll feed your share to the Terrors." _she threatened and I sprung awake while she laughed.

_"__You know, I think I'd rather like it if you didn't threaten my food." _I said as she handed me my share of the fish.

"It's a motherly thing." she says in Norse which is a bit of a rare thing but I brush it off. We eat in silence as dragons all around the nest wake up and roar before going off to hunt for their share of fish.

_"__You gonna take some down to Aster?" _she offered and nodded to where an extra fish was still hovering over the fire.

_"__Yeah, thanks. I might bring him back today, so make sure no one blasts him to bits."_ I smile and stand up, grabbing it and packing it in Toothless's pack.

_"__Can't guarantee anything."_ she calls as I trot out the house, Toothless in tow.

_"__Try your hardest?" _I yell back before I climb onto Toothless and in seconds we're soaring through the empty sky.

_"__Can we go flying today?" _he asks as we begin to circle overhead.

_"__Maybe later? I don't know what I'm going to do with Aster though." _I lean back onto the saddle pack and sigh. _"Why is this so confusing!" _I punch the air before sitting up again only to sigh and fall back down.

_"__You could take him flying?" _Toothless offers and I laugh.

_"__As if- wait. Wait. That's actually a pretty good idea bud!" _I smile and sit up.

_"__And to think," _he chuckles, _"I only suggested it so we could go flying." _

_"__Lizard." _which earns me a smack as we climb higher into the air before pulling into a dive.

The ground rushes faster and faster towards us, until it almost looks like we're about to crash into the treetops. Yet I know better.

At the last second Toothless's wings catch and he tilts to the side, leaning into a barrel roll as we spiral downwards. He stops the roll just in time to land on the ground.

_"__We need to work on your speed buddy." _I say and slide off of him.

_"__You cannot say that to the unholy offspring of lightening and death!" _he protest, puffing out his chest in pride.

_"__Oh gods, it's gone to your head." _I smile before looking up to meet crystal blue eyes.

"Hello." I say and nod my head. Aster had just gotten up, according to the sleep that's still in his eyes, and he clambers out of the cocoon he'd made with the large blanket.

"Morning." he grumbles.

"Here." I say and dig in the pack before handing him the fish, still warm from the fire.

"Thanks." he grumbles and goes back to sit down, taking large bites as he cuddles under his blanket. He kind of reminds me of a child, though he isn't dwarfed by the blanket as I used to be. And still am.

I just stand there awkwardly as Toothless shuffles off, grumbling something about my social skills and how awkward humans are.

When he finishes his fish he stretches and yawns again, standing up. "Morning."

"You already said that."

"Well sorry. Some of us are tired in the morning, unlike some people apparently." he laughs and gestures to me.

"To be fair, I hate mornings too. Though, mom usually can get me up." I say and grimace remembering how she usually has Toothless lick my face until I get up.

"Anyways, so. Have you figured out what you're going to do with me?" he asks and moves to stand in front of me.

"Yes." I stand up straight and crane my neck to stare back into his eyes.

"Are you going to elaborate?" he asks and crosses his arms, a smirk on his face.

"You'll find out soon enough." I reply before swiveling on my heel, cloak flying out behind me as I walk towards the forest.

"Where are we going?" he asks and follows me. Albeit, he was much slower and clumsier as we made our way through the forest.

"You'll find out soon enough." I reply, just as I had before.

"Didn't you already give me that?" he asks and I turn around for a second, smiling before I bolted into the tree above me.

"Yep!" I call down and begin skipping from tree to tree. I know he's following me as I can hear him running below me, though somehow I'm still a bit faster than him even though I'm jumping from tree to tree. It makes me feel a bit proud, though that isn't my intent as I gather my supplies.

"Shit!" I hear him yell and a large commotion below.

I drop onto the nearest branch to the ground, hanging on it from my knees so I resemble Toothless whenever he decides to take a nap during the day.

Aster is laying in the lush undergrowth, cringing as he pushes himself up, coming face to face with me.

"Dammit, you're still taller than I am. Even when I'm in a tree!" is what I say and he just laughs before cringing again.

"Are you okay?" I ask and let myself down.

"My chest is still hurting and this running isn't helping." he said through clenched teeth.

Oh right.

"Sorry, I forgot you were wounded. We can walk for now." I say and prop myself under his shoulder to keep him up.

"I can make it on my own." he says as he stares straight ahead, his face slightly red. What was up with his face being slightly red?

"Okay." I say and wiggle out from under his arm as we begin walking.

Occasionally I'd stop, grabbing something from a tree as he stopped and waited, but most of the time the noises of the forest enveloped us.

Bugs chirped happily and a stream would gurgle by, covered by trees so it would stay unseen. Trees would rustle in the wind that swept over the island and a dragon would fly overhead. One time we saw a small Terror who I said hi to, his name was Squeaky, before he continued on.

"So, you know almost every dragon in your nest?" Aster asks.

"Mmhm. We're one big family." I explain and reach to grab a pinecone from a tree but end up short a few inches.

_"__Curse my height." _

"I'll get it." Aster offers and reaches up easily, yanking the pinecone from the tree before handing it to me.

"It's no fair how much taller you are than I am." I complain as we begin walking along again.

"Ha. At least I beat you in one thing." he smiles.

"That and people skills." I tease.

"Most definitely in people skills." he reassures me.

"Even that rock beats me in people skills." I point to a rock as he laughs and pretends to hold a conversation with said rock.

"You're right. It's a great conversationalist." he says and turns to me.

"You're hilarious." I say sarcastically and begin walking on.

"Someone still haven't told me where we're going." he complains as we continue to walk through the towering trees.

"Be patient hatchling." I chide before walking along. By now I have about an armful of supplies, luckily we'll be there in a few minutes.

"So, how do you know your way around this place so well?" he asks and steps over a log. "I grew up here. For a long time we didn't really venture off of the island except to trade for spices and clothes at nearby towns. Mom didn't seem to want to be in the company of people for a while. I'm not sure why. So, my friends and I would play out here."

"You mean, other dragons?" he asks, an edge to his voice.

"No, I was talking about the trees." I say sarcastically and he laughs. "Of course the dragons. They're my family, my friends, my everything. Until you."

"Me?" his voice squeaks which sounds kind of funny as his voice is fairly low.

"Yep. You're human. The first I've ever really met and talked to." I shrug and duck under a tree branch as he pushes it aside.

"Really? But y-" he begins to say but stops in the middle of the sentence at the sight before us.

A small trickle of a waterfall descends from a cliff high above and splashes down into a crystalline pit of water that eventually gets dark in color as it gets deeper. Stones line the bottom and ferns splash over the edges and onto the banks of rounded stones under our feet. Unbeknownst to Aster there's a small waterfall behind the cave.

Quickly, I begin smashing up the pine needles in my hand, scraping the sap off of the pine cones and mixing that in too. A few small bells of flowers and a fine green paste sits in the palm of my hand.

"Come here." I tell him and stand up, using the back of my hand to wipe my bangs out of my face.

"Why?" he asks but edges closer.

"You smell like dragon blood." I say, and he does.

"And what does that have to do with anything?"

"I'm taking you somewhere where that would not be a good thing." I reply and hand him the paste.

"What do I do with this?" he asks.

"Rub it at your wrist, pulse point, and clavicle. It'll get rid of the stench."

"This smells really good. What's in it?" he says and begins rubbing it in at the places I told him to.

"How about all of the things I was carrying earlier?" I offer and smirk as I unclip my cloak and fold it up.

"What are you doing?" he asks.

"We do have to go swimming to get there." I reply and take off my greaves and unbuckle pack which has my wings on it.

"Swimming?!" he squeaks again and I just laugh.

"Why do you think we're here. At a pond?" I ask and pull off my boots and chest plate so that I'm left in a black shirt, an almost corset like piece which is brown and looks like dragon scales and my pants.

"Um.." he says and his face looks like it's trying to become a tomato.

"Why is your face red?" I ask and pull off the brown dragon scales 'corset.'

"Well, uh. It happens when people get embarrassed." he says and his face gets redder.

"Really? Huh." I say and begin to slip off my pants and shirt, folding them up alongside the rest of my clothes so that I'm only in my white wrappings.

Aster has edged farther away from me, which I find a bit offensive and send him a questioning look.

Humans are weird.

**Okay, I feel like I need to get this out here but no this is not going to go into smut territory. It's just meant to show how... ****uncivilized ****_different_**** Hicca is from normal people since she's kinda a social outcast... by choice though so yep. **

**KittyArt: I know he doesn't have horns (thank you tho for caring enough to make sure I was informed) I just wasn't really sure what to call them because they aren't ears but they aren't exactly spikes? So they ended up being horns. Yup. :P**

**Anyways, thank everyone for you reviews and hope you all enjoyed this chapter!**


	8. Someone Once Said

— Aster —

It was obvious that Hicca had never spent any time around people.

While vikings are a rowdy and often dirty group of people, seeing the other gender in anything but clothes is social unacceptable. It has something to do with one of the gods, he can't remember which one as he doesn't really care for the gods. But one thing is very prominent in his mind; he should not be seeing her in only her wraps.

He edged farther away, trying to avert his eyes from her as his face burned.

Though, as he is a male in his twenties, his eyes couldn't help but flick over to her. She had a nice body, lean with absolutely no fat anywhere to be found. Her chest was rather large for her petite size and freckles flecked her shoulders and legs like they did her face. The wraps were a crisp white, wrapping around her chest and the lower half of her stomach to the tops of her thighs.

His blush only intensified.

"Something wrong?" she asked and turned to him, apparently finding nothing wrong with the situation as she began to walk over to him.

"Well, uh," she was now right next to him, standing on the very tips of her toes to feel his forehead.

"You're face is hot, though you are, blushing." she used the new term.

"Well, in viking custom, people of opposite genders aren't supposed to, uh, see each other in, uh um, only their under clothes." he offered and edged away from her. He could hear his mother screaming at him in his head, accusing of taking away this girl's innocence.

"Really? That's a pretty retarded rule." she noted before walking back to the edge of the water. "If you want to come, you can. If you don't stay here. I just need to check something."

A sudden emotion that he perceives as panic and curiosity shoot through him. "Just give me a minute." he says and quickly sheds his vest, shoulder pads, shirt, pants, and boots so that he's also only standing there in the wraps that cover the lower half of his body and the bandages that wrap around his ribs.

"Humans are awkward." he hears her mumble before she begins to wade into the small pool.

He follows her in, causing the pool to ripple as he plunged into the cold water. It wasn't as cold as the water usually is on Berk, though it was still fairly cold. She didn't seem bothered by it, dunking under the water and swimming further into the falls.

"Where are we going?" he called to her as she surfaced again. He still stood in the shallows, reluctant to let the water above his waist.

"Just come on!" she yelled before diving under the water and swimming behind the waterfall so he couldn't see her anymore.

He hesitated a bit before plunging into the water. Needles pricked all over his skin but it felt nice and he felt more alert than he had in a while. Opening his eyes, he was a bit surprised to find that it was fresh water and so he was able to look around in the pool.

Hicca was no where in sight, the pool was empty and clear, so he continued swimming forward. The waterfall splashed above him, creating white little bubbles which he swam under until he surfaced behind the waterfall.

"Good, you're here." he heard Hicca say so he followed her voice to see her. She was standing on a rock ledge that fed into a cavern.

She was still only in her wraps which were soaking wet as was her auburn hair, droplets of water clinging to her skin in a very- Nope. He shouldn't go down that path. Not while he's only in his wraps too.

"Again, for the however many times I've asked, where are we going?" he demanded as he kept himself aloft in the water.

"Nope. Now c'mon." she said and extended her hand over the water. He turned his gaze from her, though he accepted her hand and she pulled him up with strength that shouldn't be there.

"Let's go!" she smiles so that he can see her canines and follows her into the mouth of the cave.

While they descend further in, he's able to observe her a bit more without her cloak getting in the way. She really is different, from the way she keeps her hair short to even just the way she walks. Maybe he's just noticing it because she's in her wraps or something but he notices that her hips sway slightly with each movement. Not much, like Snoutlout when she's badly flirting with him, but ever so subtly, like she doesn't know she's doing it. Most people in Berk walk with heavy steps and keep their bodies rigid or lazily slumped over. There's no reason not to, vikings are naturally large people with wide and large frames. But not Hicca. Her frame is small, her shoulders narrow and sloping. Her feet pad almost silently compared to his large clomps and make him feel conscious of himself and so he actively tries to be more silent.

"Walk on the balls of your feet." she calls back to him, knowing his intent as she shoots him a smile but continues on.

"How did you know?" he asks.

"When someone goes from clomping along to taking cautious steps, there's either two reasons. One, there's an enemy around, which I know there's not. Or two, they're trying to be silent." she tells him and comes to a halt, turning around.

"Want to finally tell me why we're here?" he asks.

"Yes." she finally says.

"Finally!" his exclamation echoes around the cavern.

— Hicca —

He seemed really excited, and maybe it wasn't too nice to keep him in the dark for so long. Oh well.

Without warning, I stepped backwards and fell into one of the deep pools that riddled the hatching cavern. It was deep like a well and I pushed myself up through the water to surface again.

"We're here to do some more swimming?" he asks and crosses his arms over his chest.

"No! We're here to meet someone. Just one second." I say before diving back down again.

Swimming around through the warm water, I look for the rough brown lump that I know is hiding somewhere in the pool.

Spotting a lazy eye crack open, I smile and a couple of bubbles escape my mouth as I swim towards him, waving and pointing up as I do so. Grump reluctantly detaches from his perch and wiggles towards the surface. I catch hold of the end of his tail and he pulls me up quickly.

_"__Hicca." _he replies as he breaches the surface. _"Why is there a human looking at me?" _

_"__A new experiment. I thought I'd introduce him to you first." _I answered and climbed atop of him before jumping next to Aster who was staring at Grump with a bit of awe and shock.

"Aster, this is Grump. He's a Forger, though he likes the water." I reply and shake out my hair. "Now c'mon. He can make the water really warm." I grab his hand and drag him into the water.

_"__Do I really have to warm the water again?" _he complains but points his head downwards and lets some of his lava like fire trickle through the water. It sinks to the ground and bubbles begin to rise and the water gets noticeably hotter.

"What did he just do?" Aster asks cautiously, floating in the water not too far from me.

"Forgers have a special type of fire that isn't put out by water, but the thing is that it's more like lava than fire." I reply, keeping myself afloat with my arms.

"Lava?" he asks and his hand brushes Grump's side. He retracts his hand as if he'd been hurt and Grump chuckles sleepily.

"He's not gonna kill you yanno. But lava, um. It's kind of like rocks, but heated up so much that it melts." I explain badly.

"That's possible?" he asks and I nod. "Gobber would love to see that." he mutters.

"Who's Gobber?"

"Oh," he pauses. "he's the forge master back at Berk. Actually, he's best friends with our chief, Stoick the Vast." he informs me but I freeze at the mention of my… father.

He seems to be able to tell the shift in my mood as he swims a bit closer towards me.

"You okay?" he asks and I nod.

"Yeah." I say and push myself a bit further from him. _"Grump, does he smell like dragon blood?" _I ask the large dragon who looks as if he's about to fall asleep.

_"__What? No, not really. He smells like you do, but not as metal like." _he replies and begins to drift off.

_"__Thanks, you can go back to bed if you want." _I tell him and the instant I do the water swallows him whole, startling Aster which makes me laugh.

"What?" Aster yells.

"You're startled by the weirdest of things." I shake my head and begin to pull myself out of the water.

"So, why did we come here again?" Aster asks and follows my lead as chills erupt on both of us from the cold air.

"W-wanted to make sure you don't smell like b-blood." I chatter.

"Wow you're cold." he raises an eyebrow.

"Why are you so surprised? I rarely take off my armor. And, winter is approaching." I reply, shrinking in upon myself while trying to warm me up.

"Plus you have no body fat." he says and I nod. He seems a bit shocked of what he says, why, again I cannot fathom, and his ears blush.

"C'mon! I'm cold!" I say and break off into a run. I don't realize how fast I'm going until I hear a large clatter behind me and see Aster sprawled out on the ground, palms skinned and heaving.

I dart back towards him, kneeling next to him to check out his rib which I'd ended up forgetting about. Again.

While I'm bending so close to him I notice how warm he is but I focus on my task. My hands work fast, unwrapping the gauze to see that the puncture had reopened some.

_"__And, this is my fault." _I mutter and stand up again.

"Can you stand?"

"Yeah, I've been through worse." he says and smiles up at me. "It just hurt a bit." he says and stagers to a standing position, grasping my forearm for a bit of leverage to stand up.

"Are you sure?" I ask and he nods, though his face pales as we begin walking. Well, he has a slight limp but walking all the same.

The cold seeps into my bones and I can't stop my muscles from quivering. Aster seems just fine with the cold, his face gaining a bit of color as he continues to walk, getting used to the pain.

"H-h-how are y-you s-s-s-so c-comfortable in the c-c-cold?" I chatter and pick up the pace towards the mouth of the cave.

"I live on Berk. It's cold nine out of twelve months. What about you? You kind of live in an ice fortress." he says.

"I-It's always w-w-warm h-here. Or, I-I'm w-wear-ing m-m-my a-arm-mor." I reply, the cold getting worse as I feel my fingers go numb so I flex them to keep the blood flowing.

"Why did it get so cold in here? It should be just about noon." he observes.

Then I'm struck with realization.

"G-g-god-d-dammit!" I growl. _"Knock it off Blizzard!" _my yell echoes around the cavern.

_"__Aw. How'd you know it was me?" _a voice replies and soon I feel the cold draft arrive and look up to see Blizzard. She's a young dragon, just out of her hatchling stage and she loves making it cold. She's a Frost Wing, her scales glimmering like ice and is pure white, her eyes a startling dark blue.

_"__It doesn't get so cold in here for no reason, now shoo. I'm super cold." _I tell her. Thank the gods it's practically impossible to chatter while speaking Dragon Tongue because of the harsh sounds.

_"__Aw, fine. Hey WAIT! Why is there a human?" _she growls and circles her way around my legs as the top of her head barely reaches my thighs and her eyes narrow at Aster who is also now chattering.

_"__It's fine. He's actually a good friend and means no harm. In fact, could you do me a big favor and go get Toothless?" _I ask her and she nods, eyes still narrowed at Aster before she takes off.

It gets marginally warmer the second that she leaves.

"What was that for?" Aster asks and stops shivering.

"That was Blizzard. She thinks it's funny to make the temperature drop suddenly around others and it's gotten her in trouble with more than a few." I tell him, though I'm still cold.

"Ah." he says and we continues to walk towards the mouth of the cave which isn't too far off. The sunlight is streaming in through the waterfall and I see a rainbow forming.

"So what are we going to do now?" he asks. "Wait, let me guess. Be patient?" he says and I laugh.

"Glad you're learning." I reply as we reach the mouth of the cave. Quickly we reach the bank we started at and I plop down on the bank, the sun hitting me from above.

"Well that was pointless." Aster says and sits down a few feet away from me.

"No. If you walked into the nest smelling even a bit like dragon blood, you'd be dead where you stood."

"Then why did you take me to see a dragon? Wouldn't he have also killed me if I smelled of blood?' he asked, suddenly outraged.

"As if. Grump is too lazy." I say and stretch back. "Why are you mad?" I ask.

He pauses for a second, gears clicking in his head. "Just for some stupid reason." he mumbles and quiets down, his rage stoked.

"Good." I say and lounge back in the sunlight.

Seconds go by before I see a black dot in the sky, circling above the island. Knowing Toothless could find us with ease and continue to sit down as the black dot zeroes in on us and eventually Toothless lands next to me.

_"__Hey bud." _I say and scratch under his chin in greeting.

_"__Can we go flying now?" _he asks and jumps eagerly.

_"__Once our wrappings dry. And then we can take Aster to see the King." _I say as he sits down in between Aster and I so that I can no longer see him.

"Are your wraps dry?" I ask Aster after a bit.

"Yep, though my hair is still wet." he replies and I get up, him following me.

"Then let's get dressed." I say and begin to pull on my clothes as he does the same.

"Why do you have so much gear?" he asks.

"Well, one, I need my armor as often times I get into fights. Two, I need my gadgets. Three, I'm around dragons most of the time which equals fire and I can be burned easily you know. And four. Well." I pause, a bit scared of saying my final reason. "Most people don't like seeing a girl with the eyes of a dragon."

My eyes involuntarily flick up to where he is staring down at me, mid action in pulling his shirt on over his head.

"I like your eyes."

For a second it's as if the words were never said. They slip through my head and fall out the ear. But then I replay them. Again. And again. Wait. Really? Someone who has been trained to kill dragons since he was a baby, likes a girl with the eyes of the beasts he's been fighting against? Oh yeah. He's definitely different. And, there's another thing but I push that away as fast as I can. Too quick to identify the feeling.

"Thanks." I mumble and I feel my face _blush _again and Toothless snickers to the side of me.

_"__Ah shut up you lizard." _I say and duck under his tail, pulling on my greaves.

I pull on my knee pads and chest plate before finally fastening on my belt and pulling my pack on. The cloak is last, it's weight familiar though I usually don't wear it when I'm home.

"Ready to go?" Aster asks, now back in his regular clothes.

"Yep, now get on." I say and land onto Toothless's saddle.

"Wait," Aster paused for a second, "you're going to allow me to ride him?"

"Sure. You've proven yourself trustworthy." I shrug and adjust myself, a bit uncomfortable in the situation.

"Yeah but," he stopped for a moment, hanging his head. Silence filled the air as I waited for him to say something.

"I've killed dragons." he spurts down, almost as if a protest. A breeze flits by, pulling at the trees before it fleetingly leaves.

"My mother once told me something." I shock myself with my words but I've already said something so I continue. "She said that while everyone wants an eye for an eye, if that were to be true then we'd live in a world full of blind people."

I look back up at him again to see him staring at me, almost in disbelief and shock. "Thanks." he mumbles and steps towards us, climbing onto the saddle behind me.

**Sorry everyone that I didn't update sooner! The internet has been down recently (it was hell) and I'm honestly not sure how I survived. But yes, hope you like the chapter, reviews are loved and appreciated and thanks for reading! **

**Also:**

**Kyuubi's Death: Thanks, and yeah that does make a lot of sense :D **

** : I'm sorry but I don't know why your name never appears when I try to type you a response but no I've never watched that anime, though I have heard of it. Might start watching it soon but idk**

**EXTRA NOTE: Sorry that I accidentally posted the chapter twice but I think there's something wrong with my computer (it's been acting up lately) and I haven't had time to check the chapters but thanks to everyone who reminded me in the comments section trying to help so; Thank you all!**


	9. Meeting the Mother

**_"_****_That was the fastest yet!" _****I yell to Toothless who let out a roar as we fly over home, slipping into one of the hatches and greeted by the same, familiar sight as always. **

_"__Next time don't be so loud!" _is what greets us. A call from an older Skrill named Brinna from where she rests in her cave.

_"__Sorry!" _Toothless and I call to her and she humphs as we coast by.

"Whoa, this place is huge." Aster said behind me as Toothless and I greeted several dragons who bothered to yell a greeting.

Toothless quickly flies to our house where I see Cloudjumper sitting on the roof.

_"__Cloudjumper!" _I yell as we land, instantly making her.

_"__Good to see you back, Hicca." _she greets as we land. _"I presume this to be the human." _she says and edges closer, her large eyes focused on Aster as he gets off. At first he is unaware that Cloudjumper is watching him. To be fair, he is trying to navigate off the saddle but when he does, he fall right on his back and lets out a painfully loud hiss.

Crap. I forgot. Again.

"Aster! How's your rib?" I ask and lean down next to him.

"Fine, just hurts." he mumbles as I help him stand up.

_"__My Hicca, I knew you were short, but not this short in human standards." _Cloudjumper chuckles.

_"__That just means I'm faster." _I grunt and begin helping Aster inside the house as he protests.

"I'm fine! No pain anymore. Lo-"

"Hicca!" I hear mom yell, the beats of wings above us. In an instant mom is dropped to the ground, landing in a perfect crouch as Titan drops her to the ground, yells a quick greeting before flying off.

"Hi mom." I say. Aster pulls away, standing on his own, though with a slight limp.

Mom runs towards the two of us, flitting around like a bird,"Oh dear! Come on in!"

"I'm fine, don't worry." Aster tried to assure her but she scoffed.

"You remind me of people that I used to live with. Berkians are stubborn if anything." she mutters and Aster says nothing as I lead him inside, followed by Toothless and Cloudjumper.

"So, I'm going to assume you're Aster?" mom says as she bustles around the kitchen as we settle at the table, Cloudjumper on the opposite side of the table while I'm next to Aster.

"Yes ma'am." Aster nods.

"Since when do you have manners?" I ask him.

"I've always had manners!" he protests and Toothless chuckles where he's curled up next to me which makes me laugh and him turn red.

"Sure you have." I say sarcastically.

"I do have manners! All Hoffersons do!"

_CRASH. _

"Mom!" I yell, shooting up to where several things have clattered to the floor.

Mom stands there in shock, frozen mid action, her eyes wide and only I can see the tears welling in her eyes already. No one moves. A dragon roar echoes outside as all of us watch her. Even Cloudjumper is silent. A few times this has happened in the past. Where something I say or something she sees reminds her of her home and she freezes. Sometimes she cries. Sometimes she sobs. Others she shakes it off and tries to set things back to normal but I can always feel the frigid atmosphere that may surround us for a few hours afterwards.

And then she asks in a voice so hoarse of which I'd only heard once before, "Why does he have to be from Berk?"

"Mom." I whisper but she practically explodes.

"NO!" she roars. Literally, a loud roar escaping her which puts a Screecher's scream to shame. And then she collapses with a sob.

"Mom!" I yell again and in an instant I'm by her side as she sobs. Her shoulders are shaking and her face quickly reddens and warm, fat tears roll down her face which she hides in her hands.

"It's okay, it's okay." I whisper to her, rubbing her back. She shifts her weight to hug me as she continues to sob.

"It'll be fine mom. We'll be okay." I tell her and my gaze shoots to Aster, who's still sitting at the table watching us. I give him a nod and stand up, bringing mom to the table as she begins to calm down.

Hurriedly, I get some water and sit down next to mom. Toothless has edged his muzzle into her lap and Cloudjumper has wrapped a wing around her.

"Sorry about that dearies." she mutters, her voice slightly hoarse.

"No, I'm sorry for mentioning Berk." Aster apologizes.

"Ah, I guess I'm a bit too sensitive to my old prison." she mumbles, before smiling a lonely and heart broken smile. "I suppose I owe you an explanation Aster, though it may seem a bit weird as I've only met you. Though, Hicca trusts you, so that's enough for me." she smiles at me for a second before her eyes return to her cup.

There's a moment of silence as we wait, though I'd heard this story many times.

"Yes, I once lived in Berk. I was a viking. Though, I did not kill dragons. No, I was the only one who believed that dragons had a conscience. And I was right, though I wouldn't know for many years. Most vikings thought I was crazy, wrote me off as an insane girl who would eventually end up dead. I'd tried so hard to change their minds, to show them that dragons weren't beasts, but intelligent creatures, who had emotions and feelings. Everyone thought I was crazy. But somehow, years later, I ended up getting married. To Stoick the Vast no less. Ah, I love him." she sighed, and it might've seemed weird, but in the way she looked, so broken hearted and hopeless, it was not pitiful or weak. Just sad. "And then I had Hicca. For a time we were happy," a smile finds it's way onto her face, "but then you got sick." her eyes flick to mine.

"Your father believed that you would make it the winter. I didn't. And he was right, though not in the way he thought he would be. A few days after you got sick, Cloudjumper broke into our house during a dragon raid. And she was concerned, so she brought us to the nest. The King healed us, welcomed us and made us a part of his family. And so I decided to never return to my prison, where people taunted me and whispered behind my back." she sniffled and jolted her head upwards.

"Sorry for being so depressing." she apologized with a small smile.

"It's fine. It's hard not to be sad after a story like that." Aster told her.

"Well, as nice a place as mopey town is, let's lift our spirits! Eh?" I offered, making the two of them laugh.

"Yes well! Let's go meet the King!" mom jumped up and in a second we were on the dragons.

"Hey! Wait up crazy dragon people!" Aster called after us which made me laugh.

"Get on slow poke!" I yell as he clambers onto Toothless, plopping right behind me. Toothless instantly takes off, in seconds we're at the other end of the cavern and before the King and I help Aster clamber off of Toothless.

_"__My King." _all of us except for Aster repeat, bowing low.

_"__Hello. And I'm going to assume the human is the new 'play friend' of Hicca?" _the King asks, making me blush.

_"__No! Stop laughing!" _I snap at mom, Toothless, and Cloudjumper who are snickering while Aster just looks confused.

"Anyways," mom says, still snickering, "this is our King. One of the few Bewilderbeasts left."

"King? What do you mean by King?" Aster asks.

"Well, each nest has a king or a queen." I begin to explain. "They are kind of like a chief, but they can have absolute control their subjects if they want to. Though, our King is a great ruler, unlike the queen who rules the nest near your home."

"Wait, wait, wait, wait. Hold on." Aster says. "What do you mean 'queen by Berk'?"

"Well, the dragons that raid you guys, they're sent by a queen for food. I've never seen her, but she doesn't seem to good of a queen." Mom says.

"So, the dragons don't actually want to raid us?" Aster asks.

_"__Yes child." _the King's voice reverberates through everyones minds, stunning Aster for a second.

"Dammit, I should've expected something like this!" he yells which only makes mom and I laugh.

"Yes, well. We're lucky to have a very amazing King." I say.

_"__Thank you, princess." _the King says.

"Princess?" Aster asks.

"You can explain that one mom." I say, blushing. Though, despite myself, a smile breaks across my face.

— Two Months Later —

"I did it!" Aster yells, arms up and a huge grin on his face. He was sitting atop StormFly, having just performed a barrel roll with his new saddle.

"Nice work Aster!" I yell to him as we side up beside him.

_"__He's done good. For a human." _Skreed agrees which earns a whack from StormFy. She'd learn to become protective over Aster after he'd ridden her so much through these past two months. At first he'd been wary of learning to ride, but eventually he began riding and while being an idiot almost killed himself. Several times.. Thank gods I made him a saddle.

_"__Aster is doing fine." _StormFly replied with a humph before furiously flapping upwards and performing several more tricks which Aster did with her.

_"__He's actually doing well." _I smile to myself as Toothless and I soar.

_"__I thought he'd kill himself." _Toothless chuckles which earns him a whack from me._"Protective of Aster, are we?" _he asks. Eventually most of the dragons came to embrace the new human, those who haven't still tolerate him as most dragons have come to liking him. Most dragons including me.

_"__Oh shut up you overgrown lizard." _I mumble before slipping off of him, extending my wings and catching on a drift of wind.

"Hicca!" Aster yells to me. "Up for a game of dragon tag?" he offers.

"You're on!" I shout back.

Titan, Skreed, Blown and Cloudjumper are flying with us while mom is in the forge putting on the finishing touches to a leg.

_"__Dragon tag!" _I yell to everyone below as I fly back up and land on Toothless.

_"__I'm it!" _Titan yells before ramming into Skreed.

_"__No fair!" _Skreed yells back and begins to chase after him.

One game of dragon tag later and several 'accidental' bruises and cuts, and we're back inside.

"That was fun." Aster smiles as we sit at the table. Over the past couple months everyone had taken him in, almost like family which made me pretty happy.

"Indeed. Though, it did hurt when Titan hit me. He almost knocked me out of the sky!" I yelled, rubbing my shoulder where a purple bruise was already forming.

"Are you sure you'll be okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, of course." I reply and I feel my face begin to heat up and the stupid sensation came back when he leaned too close. It had been here for several months now and I was beginning to resent it very much so. The feeling was almost as if there were a couple of dragons in my stomach, poking at my stomach and spewing fire and just being annoying.

"Ah! Odin's stinking throne!" mom storms in, her face sooty and dark, her forging apron still on.

"What's wrong?" I ask her as she furiously sits down.

"Damn leg. I can't get it right." she mutters, clearly frustrated.

"I'll finish it then." I say, already getting up.

"No, no, it's fine." mom protests, already getting up.

"Mom, I can finish it by tonight if I start now. And Lilac would really like her new leg." I reply before I'm already out the door and heading towards the forge, Toothless bounding behind me when he noticed that I left the door.

_"__What's mom upset about?" _he asks as we enter the blazing hot forge. The tables are littered with metals and tools, several fires going at once and a small pool of deep, cool water next to them. The forge is mostly closed off, save for the entrance which could be sealed off. Though, that made it seriously hot. Like, almost melt off your pants hot, which is the way that I described it to Aster who then blushed and edged away. Thor that human was a strange one.

_"__She can't get Lilac's leg right or something." _I say as I begin taking off my gear. Unlike mom, who can magically stand these temperatures for so long, I can barely survive in my clothes, much less half of my gear. So, I quickly take off my gear and chest plate, plus my shoulder and knee pads and shirt, leaving me in my wrappings, regular pants and boots.

_"__She seems really worried lately." _Toothless observes as I examine what mom has got so far.

_"__I think she might be missing Berk." _I say, and even to me, the words sound bitter.

It takes a bit before Toothless speaks, _"If she wants to go back, what would you do?" _The words stop me in my tracks.

_"__I-I would go with her." _I reply before picking up the leg and beginning to work on it. Toothless knows I don't want any more said on the topic.

Several of the pieces are the wrong sized and several springs and gears aren't lined up properly so I begin to work on those. My mind already tells my arms what to do, my feet where to go. Which metal goes where, the amount of dragon scales or the amount of metal to add to each piece and the exact way to place it or cool it. Before long I don't even know what I'm doing, yet I know exactly what I am at the same time. Sweat trickled down my forehead as I plunge another gear into the pool with the tongs.

Placing it onto the table I begin to fit it into the design, comparing up the measurements written down when I hear a small knock. My head instantly perks up, my movements ceasing as I see Aster standing there. He's holding a fish, his forehead scrunched in concern.

"You know, you should really eat something. It's been three hours since you've been in here." he says and sets the fish in front of me.

"Really? Well, thanks." I say, though my mind is still tinkering with the leg.

"You're welcome." he says and makes his way out the door. "And that fish better be eaten or else!"

"Thanks for the concern, mother." I reply with sarcasm and hear his laugh as he continues to walk back to the other house.

Finally, I finish fitting the gears in, springs all adjusted right and measurements perfect. Sighing, I set the leg to the side. And I look at the fish, which is cold and still uneaten.

So, I munch on it while looking at one of my newest designs.

An axe.

**Hola everyone! Hope you enjoyed this chapter and it might be a few days before I get the next chapter up as I'm having some family (and internet... groan) troubles but hopefully it'll be up soon! Thanks for reading and I really love and enjoy reading all of the comments and reviews so thanks! :D **


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